CAT tests with age difference

[Lizzielou43]

My son recently tested very poorly on an entrance CAT test to get into a high school, he tested well below his usual school results. As we moved into the British school system when he was 7years old, he is a year older than most of the children in his class at school. His test was done online, is it possible that he was tested at a higher grade because of his age? His teachers are all completely surprised by his results also, but they have no experience using CAT exams so can’t offer any explanation other than he maybe had a bad day.

I’m not sure one year in age would make a huge difference? Our daughter’s CATs were quite consistent across all years..and interestingly, she took the year 5 level CATS test in May of that year and took the year 6 shortly after term started in the September. Her overall average only dropped by one point. This was similar with a MIDYIS test she had taken for another school. Was the scoring low on all batteries of the test, or was there a disparity between them?

I think you might be talking about SAT test?
SAT tests are done in state schools at the ends of key stages in education and they assess where kids are vs the school program. And senior schools use those results to place kids in sets - if in fact the school he is going to has sets.
SATs tests aren’t used at higher grades as they aren’t linked to the child’s age, they are purely testing the knowledge of the defined phase of education.
So - if it was a SAT test - and he scored below expectations - then he did in fact had a bad day. Maybe there is something the school can do with his transfer report for the next school.

If, in fact, it was a CATs test - it is more or an IQ test and it tests ‘potential’. So it has verbal and non-verbal reasoning, etc. More like an adult IQ test.
Those tests compare kids within age bands, as is appropriate.

It was definitely a CAT test, and unfortunately they appear to solely rely on it for entrance into this particular high school. He normally gets high average for his maths in class, but his ‘mathematical reasoning’ (or whatever it’s called’ was low average on the CAT results. They have declined him entry to this high school and our next best option also requires a CAT test, however they appear to turn kids away.

CAT test are standardised for age to take out variation in date of birth. They are not a test you can teach to as they test innate ability. It is possible to have a bad day yes, but generally they are a good predictor of ability.

If he didn't get in it might not be the right school for him.

The current CATs version is CAT4 I think. This tests four batteries; Verbal Reasoning, Non verbal reasoning, spatial reasoning and quantitative. If a child has good numeracy skills, they would likely do well in the quantitative element. However the other tests are more reasoning based, and are a better predictor of a child’s aptitude for logic and higher level learning later on. NVR & spatial reasoning, are most associated with potential strength in the areas of maths & science; if these are low, but quantitative is higher, then it probably indicates a child has been taught good numeracy skills and has learned them well, but their potential beyond that is not great. It’s definitely more helpful to have high scores on all. It’s interesting how many heavily tutored 11plus children don’t have great CAT scores. Which is the reason why a lot of schools place more emphasis on this.