SATs tests in late 70s/early 80s

[LizzyELane]

With my daughter about sit her SATs next week I have been thinking of the tests I sat as a school child. I'm sure they weren't called SATs and I think we were older as I think I remember sitting them in the big hall at secondary school but I may be mistaken. They were real Mensa type IQ tests e.g. which shape/number/pattern is next in sequence? Which shape is this a mirror image of? If hair is to hare, then what is root related to? Not really like the modern SATs curriculum at all? I know by about Year 9 we were all sorted into 8 groups of 'intelligence' with group 1 being the cleverest and group 8 called 'remedials' . Imagine that today!! Can anyone remember these tests and what they were called? Have tried googling but can't find anything.

I remember having an IQ type of test in the third year. I think it was use for settings and streaming too.

I don't think they were prepared for or given a name,well not at my school.

we used to call them baked bean tests. As the answer paper had oval baked bean shapes and you had to mark in the one with pencil that related to the correct answer!

I didn't do these (went to a grammar school early 80s) but they sound like verbal reasoning tests?

That's what my 11 + exam was like in the late 70s . We all had to sit it. I was lucky and passed so went to the grammar school. None of this years of tutoring etc that goes on now!

Thinking about it, they may have been 13+ papers. I was definitely older than 11 and didn't live in a grammar school area.

"That's what my 11 + exam was like in the late 70s . We all had to sit it. I was lucky and passed so went to the grammar school. None of this years of tutoring etc that goes on now!"

Same when I sat mine in 1970. It was the last year it was compulsory in the LEA.

CATs are similar to what you’ve described. I sat them at middle school. I wasn’t in a grammar school area.

We’re they the Richmond tests?

Bloody autocorrect

Yes, Richmond tests! What were they for? I did them in 3rd or 4th yr juniors (y5/y6 equivalent) and didn’t live in an 11+ area so nothing to do with school selection.

I have no idea but I do remember the oval baked beans! Think the booklets were green.

We did them and someone told me once that the council kept them on record so they had details of everyone’s ability! Maybe to track them against GCSE results??

I remember doing those, definitely in junior school as I can remember where I was sitting in the school hall (next to the door to the office/medical room. Think I would have been in year 5?

Absolutely no idea what they were for, though :o

I remember doing Richmond tests when I was at school in the 90s.

I remember doing those tests in primary school!

We definitely did them more than once, as I remember the same questions coming up, and thinking why do I have to do THIS again!!!!

The ones we did were like verbal reasoning tests, and I think they told you your "reading age", but I don't remember ever getting the results of the tests, or my parents being told either

I did CAT tests (Cognitive Ability Tests, I think) in middle school in the early 80s. They sound like what you're describing.

As far as I know, nobody - kids or parents -got told the marks you got. I was pissed off because I really wanted to know.

I don't think I did anything like that, ever, and I was born in the early 60s. By the time I was in the last year of primary school the 11+ had been abolished in our area. I sat an entrance exam for a scholarship to a direct grant school (academically selective, private but heavily subsidised by the LEA) but fortunately the school chose to set fairly bog standard tests in English and Maths, including a bit of extended writing. If I'd had to do any of those awful tests where you have to rotate shapes the entire course of my life would have been different.

No idea if any LEA did track its students' progress, but my impression is that kind of thing was completely unknown back then. Even in the late 70s the percentage of pupils taking O levels or CSEs was shockingly low. It was legal to leave school at the end of the term when you turned 16, I think, and a lot of people did, even if that meant leaving at Christmas or Easter in what would now be year 11. So obviously no exams in those cases.

I remember doing tests in 4th Year (yr 6) for both maths and english and always thought they were for the benefit of the secondary school as it was standard practice for children to be put in sets for maths and english straightaway and stay with the form class for all other subjects. This was back in the late 70's in a non-grammar school area. We were told our results and I remember being annoyed that I was moved down a place because they were age adjusted and I remember thinking this was incredibly unfair.

I left school in the very late 1960s, but the Christmas leaving had already been stopped. I recall that in 1966 people could still leave at Easter, but not all that many did. Most would stay to the end of the year, there was some 4th year (year 10) leavers certificate available. I suspect that this was a county initiative, not something available nationally.

Thanks everyone, interesting reading! Yes CAT tests was the name I'd forgotten (knew it was similar to SATs). And I do remember pencilling in the little ovals on the answer sheet. I actually enjoyed CATs style tests as they were like quick little puzzles rather than laborious and difficult questions. I got put in the top class probably cos I got a good CAT score. However, I was rubbish at maths, chemistry and physics and totally out of my depth, couldn't keep up with the other kids and lost lots of confidence, likewise probably other kids couldn't keep up with the English and humanities I was better at at. Just shows the narrow minded mistakes and assumptions made in education even as recently as the 80s!

The first exam I sat was English Language O level in (what is now) year 10. I'm not sure how I feel about the ever increasing amounts of testing and who it ultimately benefits.

We had similar tests but I think they were called something like Richmond tests or something like that. They were fun but there was one which was based around maps and there was always a question where there was a picture with a river connecting a mountain to the sea and asked which direction the water flowed in and I'd sit there for ages without a clue because we'd never learned anything like that! I enjoyed the maths and english ones though and I loved the more puzzle type things

Didn't do anything like that in secondary but we all sat an IQ type test in last year of juniors. The results weren't shared with us but the teachers at both the primary and secondary school knew them. No 11+ in our county, grammar schools were abolished there in about 1972 or so.

I did the Richmond tests in last year juniors in 1991.
No idea what result I got though.

In the early 80s, in the last year of primary, we sat about 10 papers over a week or so - mixture of maths and English - each based on different skills. They were marked by the teacher.Can't remember if there were also VR and NVR too. Our parents all then had a quick meeting with the Head about how we were getting on as we left primary. Mine are told that if Grammars still existed, I would have passed to go. Parents told the results were sent to secondary school for setting purposes. I think we were just set for maths when we arrived.

I also remember doing those multiple choice tests where you had to pick the right word, which get progressively harder, lower down primary school.

With all of the tests, we never knew they were coming and just found out on the day so did them and forgot all about them...although clearly,mis till have some recall of it all. Wasn't stressful in anyway. Not sure if all schools in the LEA (a London borough) did them or not.