Midys Tests

[PrincessTippyToes]

Anyone else's DC done the Midys tests? Predictor of GCSE grades/level.

Yes but unsure what it means or what it involves or whether you or dc see the results?

Yes, my DD has just done her MidYIS test.

What do you want to know?

Mine did it in yr 7 in order to put them in their sets but I didn't really understand what is is.

Just what sort of test it is and whether it is used for setting and whether you see the results or just for internal?

The test is done on computer and the results are available to school the same day.

The students get a range of questions on verbal, non-verbal reasoning, maths and processing skills. They answer the first few questions, and then the computer program decides which questions they get for the rest of the test, hard or easy as appropriate.

The results of the individual pupils are compared to a national standard for their age group, and a MidYIS score is given for each category plus an overall score.

The school should be using the MidYIS results in setting, and should track their performance in tests and exams and match them to MidYIS to see if they are doing well, as expected, or need a kick up the you-know-where.

They do offer broad GCSE predictions, eg liklihood of 5 A-C passes, ditto with English and Maths, ditto with at least two Sciences.

The tests produce masses of data that the school should be using to track performance to potential, and, less importantly, to calculate add-value scores after the GCSEs.

More info here

If you need more info, let me know. I have been doing lots of MidYIS analysis in the last couple of weeks.

At our school, we don't generally share MidYIS info with parents unless their little darling is seriously underperforming in KS4.

Mine did this (a while ago now). Bizarrely they quite enjoyed the tests - so not nasty stressful things. Our school doesn't share results as they're more accurate for a cohort than at individual level (as you'd expect for a shortish test).

I do know that although they can sometimes be very wrong - a friend's dd was predicted just 5Cs at GCSE but achieved 5A*s + 5As for example.

Thank you. Wondered if they would share any of the information with parents but thought that they wouldn't. DD did her test today and said that q's started off easy and got harder as she went along. Said she wasn't stressed but that some of the others had been swotting. She decided, very honorably, that she wanted the test to reflect her natural ability wherever that lay! Thanks for the replies.

I think they're the kind of tests you're not supposed to be able to revise for so your dd has the right idea. & the getting harder thing is so nobody/very few people finish and they get a good spread of results to discriminate across the whole ability range.

Some schools do share the results & others don't. If they do, just remember it's an indicator nothing more.

You can't revise for them. It's just not possible.

At our school, we don't tell the pupils anything about it. We do it when they are timetabled for ICT and they barely notice that it's a test.

There is a menu on the MidYIS results for sharing with parents. I've never used this.

We tend to view the results in that you can have a bad day, but unlikely to have a better than normal day, so results can be lower than true, but unlikely to be higher than true by more than a couple of points.

We find that pupils with high MidYIS who consistently underperform have an underlying issue, such as slow processing skills. Or they might just be spoilt/naughty.

If parents were to ask about MidYIS at a parents evening, would you give them a broad indication of how their child had done? I only ask because at primary school DS did PIPs and either these or some other tests consistently put him on a standardised score of between 138 and 141. So I have high expectations of him and now he is in a different school I suppose I wonder whether we are still singing from the same hymn sheet, IYSWIM.

I think we would just say that we have tested and little darling has done really well. I would then leave it at that.

I'm not sure how the PIPS numbers map over to MidYIS. I know that my own DD was indifferent in PIPS last year and is top band in MidYIS.

Thanks. That's all I'd want to know

We have just been given DS's Midysis scores and I could really do with some help understanding them!

We have been given separate scores for vocabulary, maths, non verbals and skills and then a midysis score. DS scord very highly (compared to his other marks) for maths so I am wondering if that may have skewed the midysis score (which is lower than the maths score but higher by some margin than any of the other scores. Can anyone explain please how the midysis score is worked out as it does not seem to be an average of the other scores.

Also, I know that the scores are predictors of GCSEs but can anyone explain how we work out the grades DS is now predicted to get? Thank you.

Sorry, that should be midyis, and I am assuming that is the same as midys so apologies if not.

The overall score is a weighted average of the subtest scores. (Probably only the CEM people at Durham know the weightings, which will be different from last year's, and they won't be telling).

If you google MidYIS and CEM you'll find some interesting information.

The overall MidYIS score is a weighted average of the subtest scores. (Probably only the CEM people at Durham know the weightings, which will be different from last year's, and they won't be telling).

If you google MidYIS and CEM you'll find some interesting information.

Thanks for that, will do.

My youngest just started comp in Y7 and they sat their MidYIS test on their first day. From these results the school has banded them and given Gobal grades. My daughter who in Y6 in primary was in the top 3 of 30 now has a lower grade than 12 of her previous primary school peers. They are band A and she is B, does anyone have any advice on this, is it an issue, will her previous high academic standing lower ?? Should we raise concerns with the school. The MidYIS has been used in isolation of any primary school assessments. Any comments would be useful