Atom scores for indies

[Boredofthe11plus]

Username changed as I want to keep topics related to my child/school/future schools separate from other posts.

DD is sitting the ISEB 11+ this winter and has been using atom regularly.
Thought we were doing ok with score of 116-125 across the board.
I have stumbled across previous 11+ threads where 130+ was quoted as the standard and I am now feeling slight stressed.

Does anyone have any past experience of scores or can shed some light on what is the benchmark?
Aiming for the main South London girls’ indies.

Thanks

It's a perfectly fine score for top South London schools!

See my post on this thread with the Atom scores by school:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/4357122-ISEB-pre-test-scores-for-private-and-grammar-schools

Oh that’s helpful!

Interesting to see that some of the big names (Westminster, St. Paul’) “only” need 120+. Not sure why the posters on the other thread were saying 130+ was needed on Atom (not CAT)

There’s a lot of these 130+ conversations on MN that scare people off frankly. I was also worried with DS who scores in the 115-120 range but I later realised I was so wrong about his capabilities!

I also wondered about all the 130+ scores on those previous threads. I have a DS sitting south London and Surrey schools, who has done some of the Atom mocks for ISEB practice. He found that questions started being repeated in the tests quite quickly; so my guess is that at least some of those kids who were consistently getting over 130 had simply memorised the answers to some of the harder questions. This is one of the reasons we’re mixing it up and using Atom, Bond books, CGP books etc etc

I think for most of the subjects, the highest stanine, 9, kicks in at about 126/7. And that would be above what’s required for almost any school.

Some of the English grammar is hard - I am learning something new each time I go through a mock with DD!
As for the verbal reasoning…
… I am not sure I would get into many of these schools

There isn’t much grammar in the actual ISEB. Comprehension, vocabulary and punctuation is what you need.

Thanks, @DPLMom - there’s a lot on atom: prepositions, noun phrase, frontal adverbials etc

You should speak to the school about the syllabus for ISEBs (let me know if they are not helpful) because only some grammar parts come for the actual ISEBs. And it’s much simpler than what Atom suggests. For example, they may ask about the number of pronouns in a sentence but they don’t usually ask about determiners or reflexive pronouns. The school should be giving you a syllabus.

Thanks so much, you have been incredibly helpful!

@Boredofthe11plus I just asked DS and he said the only grammar question that came was ‘which is the verb in this sentence’ so yeah Atom is probably overkill on grammar

Atom goes beyond the ISEB syllabus in grammar and maths. I know it has been flagged to them and they were meant to deal with it. It unnecessarily increases anxiety (which of course may mean you subscribe to the platform for longer) and in my view can be deleterious to exam performance as you can end up spending too long on areas outside the syllabus, while simultaneously making the child feel unprepared.

Atom is 6 or so marks below cat scores. For SS your child should be scoring 8s-9s. My child got into all the SS with those (not 9s across the board tho). I think atom makes parents worry. The Iseb is not as tough. My child said none of the really hard grammar/maths turned up, got into tiffin (not wait list!) just so you know. Best of luck, it’s a difficult time!

In fact, I seem to remember more 8s than 9s!!

Rarely a 7, and only once a 6 (I think when he lost internet connection!). Hope this helps give a bench mark.

I have dc in private and state systems. The grammar on atom is in line with what is taught for KS2 SATS which is beyond what’s taught for CE. (Amusingly, the child in the private system could recognise and write a sonnet but not deconstruct sentences like the child in the state system). So for my dc doing the grammar school test it was very useful.

I think the 130+ crowd probably shout a bit too loudly: Atom gives a reasonable (if imprecise) idea of what’s needed and it’s nowhere near this, because if London independents only took kids in the top stanine, then 97% of the London-based children on Atom would have to magically find places elsewhere.