Year3 CAT4

[XaviHK]

Hi, my boy is in year 3 and we are very new to the CAT 4 system. My friends told me that 141 for both Spacial and Quantitive is a very good result and I should consider applying the top private schools. I am wondering is his assessment really good enough? Also, is there any scholarship for such early age group? Thank you very much

CAT4 result is as follows:

Verbal: 114
Quantitive: 141
Spacial: 141
Non verbal: 125

His profile is quite spiky and heavily biased to spatial skills. Year 3 is the main entry point for private primary schools and scholarships aren't common or large at primary school level.

Where are you based (London?) and if finances are an issue do you think you'd qualify for a bursary?

There are some schools that have entry points in year 5 and offer a few bursaries but you might want to prepare for the entry exams, particularly focusing on language / writing etc which appears to be his less strong area based on the test scores.

My understanding is level-Y and next year pre-A aren't too reliable on spatial reasoning however these scores are still very strong. I'm not privy to level-y scores of peers as I think it's relatively new.

For the selective education entry points I do think you need at least a year prep and VR is very important at 7+/8+

As cat4 is a strong indicator of attainment over the long term I would recommend aiming for the 11+ in Y6. In that process raise bursaries as the funds are more of a thing from 11+ than 8+.

Applying outside 8+/11+ limits schools and you then are forced into the "occasional slot" application process which probably won't be enjoyable.

Also the important part of your friend's comment is top. Don't risk a run-of-the-mill independent school as in a lot of cases could be worse than maintained (for example in turn over).

I think only 2 London schools do 9+ for example (1 top and 1 good about 8km from each other) but at 11+/13+ you have all options.

Certainly potential there!

Have Cat4 changed the marking structure?

As far as I'm aware year 3 is the "Y" exam and this was limited to a max of 131 as the tests were relatively short and they said they couldnt accurately make predictions above this.

Perhaps he took the "Pre A" exam?

you would probably stand a chance with second level schools as top schools usually require 135+

My god son revived a 10+ scholarship - his average was 130. Only provided 10% off the fees though.

Agree with PP that scores are interestingly 'spikey' the quantitive score is extremely high and indicates great potential. But CAT scores do not always translate to performance in the classroom.

Some schools will be more interested in the 'mean' score which is an average of the tests taken. More academic schools may look for a mean average of a minimum 125 (could be totally wrong here!)

We finally decided to do a WISC-V for my son. It turned out the CAT4 test is very accurate in our case. His IQ score is 145+, Visual Spatial is 155, Fluid Reasoning is 151 but Verbal Comprehension is only a high average, Working Memory and Processing speed are both very superior. School suggests my son to take GCSE Maths exam when he is Year 8 or 9.