Non-verbal reasoning - Bond tests

[LadyWellian]

Wondered if anyone had any insight on what a 'good' score is. According to the rejection letter from our 1st choice school (which was a massive long shot anyway and we are over the moon that we have got in to our 2nd choice), DD got 101 out of 141, which placed her in band 4 of 9 (where 9 is the top).

Now, my grasp of statistics isn't great but according to my calculations, the mid-point of ability would be halfway up band 5, so her band 4 result isn't impressive but tallies more or less with her LA banding which is based on Y5 maths and literacy.

But 101 out of 141 is 72%, which in my world is pretty damn good and if she got 72% in any other exam I'd be rightly pleased - and have told her I think her 101 was a pretty good effort.

So do the bright children all get 100% or close to it?

I'd be interested to hear others' experiences.

Is it a standardised score? It looks rather like one. In which case 100 represents the average mark of those who took the test, so she was just above that, rather than that she got 101 out of 141 questions right.

Can't believe I opened this, as we've just finished the whole tedious process with DD2, who didn't get into her first choice of school either.

Gosh, I've no idea! Have no experience of these at all. Got a book of practice ones so DD wouldn't completely freak when she was faced with it, but other than that I'm clueless.

Still, just above average is better than we're used to

OK, I've Googled it now and it makes sense, though standard deviation makes my brain hurt. As all our schools are comps, I had never looked into the whole 11-plus labyrinth.

Ah, believe me, you can go through it all more than once without ever needing to understand standard deviation.

She did well, but would be up against children who may not necessaarily be more academic , but have spent years practising for the papers

Your dd did do well, but apparantly a lot of it is about technique and speed when it comes to the tests. My ds was way better than me at NVR when we were doing some practice.

I'm in th eprocess of trying to get his individual scores, so I'll let you know what they were if we succeed!

101 is a very respectable score if she didn't have much preparation. The candidates for these tests are generally self-selecting, so she was probably about average in an above-average group, many of whom may have been preparing for years, as coccyx says.

Agree - if the only practise she's had is a book of bond questions that's pretty impressive

DC around here (Surrey) - not my DD I might add - do HUNDREDS of practise papers before a GS selection test and they need to get in the 80 and 90% for a place. That's going by my DDs scores for the GS around here.