Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Is 74% a good result for a yr 8 mths exam ?

84 replies

ronnieandmrman · 12/12/2023 21:14

Or is it quite poor? I detest maths so I would have been proud of myself but just wanted other opinions

( I'm very proud of my son either way I'm just seeking options)

OP posts:
PostmansKnock · 12/12/2023 21:36

If the questions are number bonds to ten and one more and one less then 74% is terrible.

MamaMissions · 12/12/2023 21:41

When my son did exams before the summer gone (was in year 8), anything over 50% was a pass. So I'd defo say that 78% was good, and is nothing to question or be be worried about at all, unless your DC usually gets higher than that and then it's suddenly dropped to 78%. Otherwise it's all good

MamaMissions · 12/12/2023 21:42

Sorry 74% I meant (not 78%)

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General education Secondary education
Hollyhead · 12/12/2023 21:43

Sounds pretty good to me 😀

Muchtoomuchtodo · 12/12/2023 21:49

Definitely need more context.

ds2 would be gutted with that score in maths, for others it may be a huge achievement.

reluctantbrit · 12/12/2023 21:59

It depends on a lot. What set is he in? In the top set I would assume it's low, in a middle one, ok, in a low one high.

I found tests in autum/winter difficult to judge for DD as it often included stuff DD actually didn't cover yet so a 50% pass was great for her in the middle set.

In the end the end of term level her teacher put her in was more important.

BombaySamphire · 12/12/2023 22:08

Muchtoomuchtodo · 12/12/2023 21:49

Definitely need more context.

ds2 would be gutted with that score in maths, for others it may be a huge achievement.

Always one…
🙄

MaryMcI · 12/12/2023 22:10

I think the main thing is that your DS pays attention to the feedback which came with the grade.
So for example, my DS usually gets also a sheet where they go through the ones they got wrong and write in where they had gone wrong/what the answer should have been. That helps them progress.
I think he got mid-70s in first year at secondary (Scottish system) in his first test. The feedback at the parents evening was that he needed to revise more. They had a revision booklet he had not even opened at home and I didn’t know existed. So in that context, the score was irrelevant - there had been an expectation to revise and get higher, which was not met.
Once he started to revise for the tests as well as go over the feedback, he started to get into the 80s, and now aims at more than that.

A long way of saying, it’s about more than the number.

Original poster
ronnieandmrman · 12/12/2023 22:10

reluctantbrit · 12/12/2023 21:59

It depends on a lot. What set is he in? In the top set I would assume it's low, in a middle one, ok, in a low one high.

I found tests in autum/winter difficult to judge for DD as it often included stuff DD actually didn't cover yet so a 50% pass was great for her in the middle set.

In the end the end of term level her teacher put her in was more important.

They haven't been put into tiers as yet. Yr 9 the will get put into their proper class according to ability- that's why I'm clueless lol

OP posts:
surreygirl1987 · 12/12/2023 22:16

What are you talking about? That’s exactly how exams work. All scores are taken into account and grade boundaries are decided from there. If the class average is 50% then he’s done well. If it was 90 then he hasn’t. It’s totally relevant

Exactly this.

OP nobody can give you an answer. It is impossible. It depends on the difficulty of the test. If it was really easy (and therefore the class average is likely to be very high), then that may be an awful score. However, if it was really difficult (and therefore class average is likely to be low, say 50%) then of course it's good. If you're that keen to know, just ask the maths teacher for a class average to give the result context. The mark on it's own is meaningless.

As an example of how meaningless marks are, last year in the mocks, a mu h lower percentage gained an A in Biology than it did in English. For instance (making the figures up) 67% got an A in Biology but you needed 92% for an A in English (based on previous grade boundaries). Students were puzzled when they got 90% in English and a B grade, but 68% in Biology and an A grade. They therefore did 'better' in Biology than they did in English, despite having a lower percentage. You will see that at GCSE and A Level. Context is always needed. In external exams, the grades are what give marks context - otherwise the exam board could just publish a percentage instead of a grade.

Uncooperativefingers · 12/12/2023 22:18

Slightly off topic, but please make sure your DS doesn't find out you "detest maths"

Being good at maths can open so many doors, yet so many parents inadvertently put their kids off the subject

MargaretThursday · 12/12/2023 22:20

You can't tell with that.

In year 8 I got 52% in my geography exam. I was 3rd in the year.
In year 9 I got 81% and was in the bottom 10%.

Which year did I do better at geography?

kitsuneghost · 12/12/2023 22:22

Average
Would expect the majority to get 70-90%

KirriIrry · 12/12/2023 22:23

Nineteendays · 12/12/2023 21:34

But As and Bs in exams are determined by grade boundaries which are based on everyone’s scores.

Show quote history

I’ll start by saying, I don’t understand how exam gradings work, but - if the above is true, why do we get headlines every year about record numbers of students getting As/A*s etc? Surely the boundaries would just shift accordingly.

CloudPop · 12/12/2023 22:45

OP do a bit of research on GCSE grade boundaries. You'll see that the actual percentage isn't all that relevant standalone, it's entirely within the context of the mark schemes

Also agree with PP saying please don't do the "I'm rubbish at maths" thing so many women seem to fall into.

coloursquare · 12/12/2023 22:49

Depends on class average. Average in our class was about 46%!

BombaySamphire · 12/12/2023 23:33

kitsuneghost · 12/12/2023 22:22

Average
Would expect the majority to get 70-90%

Why?

wideawakeinthemiddleofthenightagain · 12/12/2023 23:38

In secondary school, it's not even much use knowing the class average as it's the year group average that matters. Your DC might happen to be in a class of kids who are randomly good at maths or randomly bad at maths. Having said that, all of the teachers will be different and a particularly good or bad teacher can skew the results.

LER83 · 12/12/2023 23:46

It really does depend on what the class average was. My dd recently got 54% in a Maths test and had the highest mark in the class, whereas ds got 67% in one of his and he had the lowest score!

WashItTomorrow · 13/12/2023 07:40

kitsuneghost · 12/12/2023 22:22

Average
Would expect the majority to get 70-90%

Why would you think that? Bearing in mind a GCSE “pass” at grade 5 can be as low as 25% on the higher tier, and a high proportion of children don’t get that GCSE grade 5. Marks are higher in the foundation tier.

Shinyandnew1 · 13/12/2023 07:57

Is 10.5cm a good length for a piece of string?

I don’t think anyone here is really going to be able to help as we don’t know what the test was or what everyone else scored, but it sounds like you were right to say well done.

At my DC school, for end of year exams, they tell you not only their scores but the median score for the year, which is really helpful. They don’t do this for just general tests though-that would be unnecessary admin for staff.

00100001 · 13/12/2023 07:59

ronnieandmrman · 12/12/2023 21:20

It's his first set of exams in 'big school' and I just didn't really know what to expect but I'm pleased that he's happy about it. I thought the teacher might have given the average but as yet she hasn't.

I'm sorry for the people that get annoyed with posts like this, I was just curious to know what you thought was a good score x

Best person to ask is his actual teacher...

But it really isn't worth fretting over, if something is amiss, the teacher will be in touch...

Jacfrost · 13/12/2023 08:02

I'd be more concerned that he's in y8 and that was his first test rather than the actual score tbh.

DD is y8 and since they started they've had half termly assessments in everything.

How are they measuring progress?

00100001 · 13/12/2023 08:04

kitsuneghost · 12/12/2023 22:22

Average
Would expect the majority to get 70-90%

Really? You'd expect most pupils in the cohort In a year 7 end of topic test where you don't know what they've been studying, what their ability level is, what the rest was testing or what level it was pitched at?

If most kids are getting 70-90% then the test is too easy. Most kids should fall between 40-70% if anything. I'd expect 70+ to be outliers in the group with maybe less then 5% of the cohort getting 90+.

fpqand · 13/12/2023 08:04

Surely you know by now what your son's targets are? That should give you an inclination as to whether that score was on track or above/below? Look at his last report, assuming the school does targets.