SATS and CATS in Yr7

[choccyp1g]

Our local comprehensive streams for most subjects, and the general gossip is so long as you get into the "top" 2 sets, you will do fine. Apparently, they decide which sets the DCs go into, according to their results in the CAT tests which they sit at the start of Y7 (Not the SATS which they are graded in Y6)
I am starting to think that I should be planning on coaching DS for these CAT tests. Or are they genuinely uncoachable, in which case his natural genius (joke) will shine through.

you cant coach for cats - they are an iq test so you cant learn the answers. most schools use a combination of cats and sats - a child doing really well at sats but with low cat score is working really hard - a child with low sat score but high cat score may not be working to their true ability - both probably worthy of a place in set2/1...

But I thought you could improve your score in IQ tests with a bit of practice. If you have seen those kinds of questions before it must help a bit.

Many schools will do the initial setting based on SATS and then at the half term they will move the odd child about based on CATs and teacher suggestions.

Some school set only on the CATS a few weeks in, but I think this is rare.

The CATS are also used for target setting as well as setting as they move up the schoo.

DC's school actually set Cats in the induction period in July when the dcs are still in year 6.

They use the CATs and raw scores from SATs for setting and targets. Dcs school set from the day they start in year 7 but there is obviously room for movement once they start.

And many schools use the TA and take no notice of the SAT score at all. And very sensible they are too.

Dcs school are one of the most improved schools in the country as well as having great pastoral care, they seem to be doing somthing right

You can't coach for CATS.

If you want familiarisation, you could try Bond Assessment papers for 11+. They are not identical, but should be helpful.

A lot is said about CATS identifying underachievers, however it can work the other way. My daughter's prep apparently used CATS to inform secondary school recommendations, but did not explain this. Instead we were left reeling when she was discouraged from applying to the same relatively academic schools as her class peers, and the prospect of a weak school report.

Lots of panic and some deadlock, though in the end we got school support and she did just fine, getting 4 out of the 5 selective indies she applied to.

Interestingly she did amazingly badly on the Tiffin test, even though she thought she had done well and failed to get a selective place at our local CoE school. We had her tested (expensive) and it was explained that the overall score was only an average and as such was a poor predictor for a very one sided child. DD will be fine when it comes to A levels, where she can choose her preferred subjects.

She is really flying now, and actually in all subjects. I suspect that her previous school was cautious about putting her in sets which matched her exam results because she had such low CAT results. The secondary, presumably because it has already selected its pupils, does not seem to use the same approach (plus they have the in-depth assessment we passed to them) and she is delighted to get away from the typecasting and be seen as one of the "clever" ones.

We still don't really understand why she is so bad at CAT tests, and feel it was a pity that the prep did not discuss the results with us before making their minds up. (Her teachers, in contrast were a lot more positive and encouraging because they knew her in class.) The idea that a school would use these tests, rather than achievement, for setting, is worrying. I accept that it is a way of picking up under-performers and making sure they don't get lost, but over-performers should not be disadvantaged just because a test suggests they have less potential.

I would ask to discuss the results and the implications.