CAT4/ISEB

[Legoninja80]

Hi,
I’m hoping someone can help. We recently received our DS (Y5) CAT4 scores and they were a lot lower than expected (119) especially for NVR (109) We were shocked as he’s currently on an academic scholoship at his current Prep School and all his teachers have always said how bright he is and he will have the option to go to any Senior School. We’ve had a meeting with our Head to discuss Senior Schools and he’s suggested Eton and Winchester. DS recently had internal school exams and has placed in the top 5 in the year group for all subjects in a year groups of 40. His classwork and homework is always of approx 85-100% correct. I’m so confused I don’t understand how he can do so well with classwork and internal exam but score so poorly in his CAT4 test. Does this mean his ISEB pretest will be of a similar result? I understand schools such as Eton are looking for scores of 125 and above.

CAT scores can vary. Has he sat one before? Lots of things can affect one test. If he is scoring 80%+ in his exams and the headmaster is suggesting Eton and Winchester, it seems clear that they think he is of that academic calibre. On top of that there is a slightly different CAT test aimed at independent schools where the results are about 10-20% lower, which one did he take? Eton and Winchester both use the ISEB Common Pretest as their first steps in the admission process. You can also practice the types of questions asked with Atom Learning. (other platforms are available too!) Lots of schools use them to prepare the children for their assessments in Y6.

He sat one last year too in Year 4 and the results are similar maybe a little worse on the whole.
I’m not sure which test he took I’m afraid, I wasn’t aware there were two tests available.
Do you know if the CAT4 result in an indication of what he would obtain in the ISEB pretest? We’ve started Atom Learning, and he’s only getting 6/8 on each island so I’m a little worried

II would ask for another meeting with the school to ascertain where he is currently, they know your son best.

CAT tests are quite different - multiple choice and not your usual tests compared to school-written end of year assessments. Do you know what his spread of scores were across all domains? Whilst not something that can supposedly be “practiced”, it definitely can so don’t worry!

@Littlebitofthisandthat his results were;
Year 4 VR 126 Quant 124 NV 118 SPATIAL 102 Overall 118
Year 5 VR 120 Quant 120 NV 111 SPATIAL 109 Overall 115

We only met the Head a few weeks ago and didn’t feel comfortable questioning his next school recommendations. I did ask his class teacher who said these results are lower than expected from him and what they have seen in class.

Sign up to atom and start working on those mocks. See what he gets. From what I understand is children score higher on CAT tests then ISEB. But it could just be your son is not familiar with that type of test taking. Start practicing now and see where he is at. But the scores are not high enough now for a very academic school. But doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Just find out what went wrong. Was he focused he enough during the exam? Maybe some gaps in knowledge somehow. Children tutor for the 11+ to fill in gaps.

Your DS is bright and school will know him best. Get yourself some NVR spatial CGP books to work on that particular weakness. Do it on paper first, by exclusion.
The head of a prep will know what schools are a right fit and what type of boy is getting in and will write the reference. The reference for private schools can be as important as test results. It is only top grammar schools you need to have the top test results across the board.

You can practice spatial problems using books as this seems to be your son's particular weakness and do 3D puzzles.

Don't worry too much about the score.

My son did the CAT4 tests in Year 7, Year 9 and Year 11 and his scores have varied by a really large number of points, which has made me question the robustness of the data. GL say their data is robust but I know that not many students are tested three times across different years so is this true? My son did better in Year 7, then worse in Year 9 and the n performed the best in Year 11. He did CAT4 tests due to moving schools but not everyone does.

In all honesty if his homework, classwork and teacher's reports paint a different story then it's most likely he was just having an off-day.

Worth remembering that ISEB/CAT4/11+ are glorified IQ tests for children whereas schoolwork is generally a different discipline. Has he had much experience of VR/nVR assessments to the clock? It could be worth him practising a little at home if not.

Regardless, it's not worth worrying about - VR and nVR are very different tests.

We’ve signed up to Atom and I’ve got him to practice the NV modules for now. I don’t want to start tutoring or make him do too much as I want a realistic idea of his ability.

If it's any consolation, my DS always performed dreadfully in the CAT4s and was put into middle sets because of this. Within the first half term though he was subsequently placed correctly into the top set which reflected his ability. This has happened for the past 3 years - so they're not always a great predictor of children's ability or potential.

I'd always take the 'we met with the head' recommendations with a pinch of salt. Their knowledge of the schools is often waay out of date, and their awareness of your child likely pretty mediocre also.

Best bet is to visit the schools yourselves and decide if it feels right for your son

CAT4 tests are something you can definitely revise for. I am a private tutor, and I get parents to find out from school when they have CAT4 tests coming up, and practice tests (15 mins a day) for two/three weeks on the Atom Learning mock tests up until the exam. Make sure that they go through corrections properly, as that's key for progress.

Hi there. You seem to have a very similar username to me and I’ve had issues with someone imitating me on threads in the education boards before. So I’m just saying if you are doing this I’d appreciate it if you didn’t.

I’ve never posted about CATs or the ISEB - for the record.

And to answer your actual question- at our prep, the boys do a lot timetabled atom practice. If that’s the case at your prep, I would speak to the teacher who is currently taking your son for VR and NVR and ask where his weaknesses lie.

Just keep practicing ATOM - little bit, but consistently. It is possible that he got tripped in exam technique, not his actual IQ. And familiarity with the question format is useful.
Get him to practice VR and NVR. Pay for full subscription for 6 mo - it’ll be worth it, to help with his applications.

And, most importantly, don’t drop the ball in the summer. Let him rest for a few weeks, but do practice in the last couple weeks of August - as most schools will run another CATs test in early Sept - and you want him to be well prepped for it.
This is not same as tutoring to somehow get an inflated result - this is getting him comfortable with format, so he can do as well as he can. CATs is largely an IQ test - but exam technique and familiarity with on-line testing format can also have an impact…