11+ waiting for results

Good luck Stoufer!

Good luck, @Stoufer! I'll have everything crossed for you tomorrow!

We get the results tomorrow (Bexley).... it seems to have come round so quickly. Fortunately my DC2 has completely forgotten that the results are out tomorrow so is quite relaxed, but I am a gibbering wreck underneath! Good luck to all waiting for results... can't wait for the uncertainty to be over....!

It's cool that you all know when you'll get the results. The school we've applied to just says "mid October".

6 days to wait here. He doesn't seem bothered at all... comes into my head once a day and just really want to know the result so we can then know school options.

Another one here. Gloucestershire for us. I haven't been thinking about it too much to be honest, hopefully my daughter's not either... Good luck to everyone, not long to wait now.

We had a similar experience last night, Penguin, we quite liked the local comprehensive; we’d been last year too and felt the opposite, but the head has changed since. I then had a dream that we got his 11+ results and they weren’t quite good enough, and he was really disappointed, I was very relieved when I realised it was a dream!

Went to an open day for the local comprehensive last night - DD seemed really taken with it. So hopefully not too many tears if she doesn’t get a good result from 11+!

@Mog37 Are the better comps in the town oversubscribed? If they're not, you could still get a place. Have you called the local admissions team (I've always found them really helpful) and asked their advice/likelihood of her getting a place?

Totally with you on the stress levels!

brisklady - no idea sorry

All I know is that it’s to do with getting as close to 21% as possible and that if they’d lowered the English paper to 105 in that year there’d have been too large a surplus in one particular area of Kent that would have required way too many grammar school places than were available do it wasn’t lowered

But if you read the other forum and KCC stuff you’ll see that the 106 passmark isn’t set in stone and can change from one year to the next

It just hasn’t yet since they introduced the change 4 years ago

P.S. Good luck to everyone!

I'd like to join a handholding thread, please. We're now waiting for DD's results. I've done a lot of stressful exams in my time but taking DD to yesterday's 11plus was definitely up there with the most terrifying! (She's my eldest so I'm only just discovering that it's worse watching your children taking exams than it is doing them yourself!)

The added stress for us (which I'm trying to make sure that DD doesn't know about atm) is that we've got very limited options if she doesn't get in. Can't afford to privately educate, the secondary school in our village "'requires improvement", and we're out of area for the better comprehensives in the nearest town. She's a bright girl - but she needs to be well inside the top 10% of all the bright girls who took the exam yesterday to get a place...

Thanks, all of you, for your helpful messages! It's in the lap of the Gods, isn't it?

Good luck to your lovely DC!

Thanks Taffeta. Not doubting your knowledge, but why would they consider changing English to 105? If the raw score to scaled score formula is changed each year according to the hardness of the paper, then why would they need to change the scaled score pass mark as well? Sounds like changing two things when they only need to change one. Am I missing something??

WhatsGoing if you’re in Bucks, the results come out on 12th October. The application for schools has to be in on 31 October. So if you’ve passed, you can put grammars down on your list. If you’ve not passed and aren’t going to appeal, you put the non-grammars as all your choices. If you’re borderline, and are going to do a selection panel, you should put grammars and non-grammars down.

None of the schools know which order you’ve put your choices in. All the ones you’re eligible for (eg on distance) will offer a place to the allocations system and then you will be offered the school highest up on your list. If you decline the place, then you go into the second round of allocations - but you aren’t guaranteed your higher choice - it will depend on how many places for there have become available after others hIgher up the eligibility criteria have accepted/declined. That’s my understanding of how it works anyway!

Just went to see one of the non-grammars today. The teachers were great but it’s a world away from the grammars.

WhatsGoingOnEh
You don't risk your chances for a comp place with putting the grammar first.
Someone who puts school A as sixth choice could get in, because he lives closer to the school than someone who put it down as first choice (here distance is most important for comps).

We are in the same boat. We get our scores mid October, but have to wait for the National Offer Day for our places.

My sons had their second test today (we are on the border for two areas) and said it was easier than the first one
The 2nd is weighted a little more to Maths, that may be good for my 'borderline' twin, because Maths is his stronger subject.

WhatsGoingOnEh, if the score or rank seems like you’re in with a shot, put it first on the application form, and your comp second, if that’s your preference order - you are not disadvantaged in getting a comp place by putting it second, preference order makes no difference to the chances of you getting a place. Check your admissions criteria to see what determines who gets in and who doesn’t, it’s most commonly distance from school. So not quite as stressful!

brisklady - nearly right

The passmark for each paper in Kent has been 106 the last few years but it isn’t set at that

In fact two years ago there was talk of reducing the English test to 105 but it was decided against

If the tests this year were easy then the raw score required to get a pass will be higher

ie test hard passmark for a 10.7 yo (it’s also age standardised ) may be 11/25
test easy passmark for a 10.7 yo may be 16/25

etc

They look at the total raw scores to get around 21% to pass

Remaining 4% head teacher appeal

Thanks for explaining!

The school here says we'll find out our child's score in mid-October, but not whether they've got a place. ?!

Does that mean you have to just add it to your normal school application form and hope for the best? But without knowing if they've got a place, you might mess up your chances of getting in to the nearest comprehensive, as you'll put that on your school form as your second choice, not first, and it's probably over-subscribed and only takes first-choice applicants.

So you might end up getting a place only in a school miles away...?

Wow, stressful.

I have heard that Bennett might go up to 10 classes and they do go through the criteria, they also take some more on appeal. Worth checking which criteria they went down to last year - as an indication. Hopefully won't be necessary and the 11+ results will be in your favour.

Where we live the grammars don't have a pass mark. The (age standardized) scores are put in a ranking and the highest scores get in. The scores you need vary a little bit from year to year depending on how many children take the test and how strong they performe.

Here in Kent, I think the way it works is that they look at how hard the paper was (ie how people performed in it) and then they use that to determine the scaled scores. So, the pass mark for any individual paper is pre-set at 106 out of 141, but some years you might need to get 75% of the questions right to get a 106, whereas in harder years you might only need to get 45% right. With the end result that roughly the same number of kids pass each year (presumably equating roughly to the number of GS places). That's my understanding - but I could be wrong, plus it might be different elsewhere.

I'm in. My DS2 took the test last week. Gulp.

How does the marking work? It's not that everyone who gets (for example) 95% of the answers correct passes, is it? It's weighted.. please could someone explain that to me?

DS2 said he couldn't answer a few of the maths questions, which has given me the fear.

We had a lovely dinner out the night of the test. I think we'll just plan a favourite meal at home on results day, so it's something nice for him either way, but not a big deal. Want to get home from school as early as possible to escape from all the playground chatter. It's weird to think the schools will find out soon, this week I think, but we've still got nearly a month to go!