Which school on these CAT scores

[Bringonchristmas36]

Hi,

ok new to the whole private school system in south west London (seems a minefield) so very grateful for help

my son is in year 4, with these sort of CAT scores where should I be thinking? Also do people tutor for CAT scores?

he is not super confident and I know enough that we would not aim for at Paul’s or Westminster etc. but where else?

Autumn Term Tests[Cognitive Ability Tests (CATs)]Mean: 121
Autumn Term Tests[Cognitive Ability Tests (CATs)]Verbal Reasoning: 125
Autumn Term Tests[Cognitive Ability Tests (CATs)]Quantitative Reasoning: 116
Autumn Term Tests[Cognitive Ability Tests (CATs)]Non-Verbal Reasoning: 123
Autumn Term Tests[Cognitive Ability Tests (CATs)]Spatial Reasoning: 118

Yes, you would tutor to get into the private schools. I would say with those scores, depending on where you are exactly check out Emanuel, Hampton, Allyns, Dulwich College, Epsom. If they go up 10 points, then would check out latymer, kings as well.

I agree not likes St Paul’s or Westminster but these scores will likely go up by the time your son is in year 6. Most state schools don’t even do cats and they don’t have any bearing on the admissions. I would save the tutors for the 11+ exam and not for the CATS. Where do you live? That would have a huge influence on which schools to target.

Dont think the CAT score very meaningful.

With some practice these score can easily go up by 10+ points. I'm not sure if one can judge a kid academic potential or target school at year 4 simply based on these scores. Or say a kid without practice is smarter than the one with similar scores with some practice.

I'd look at Ibstock / Harrodian with these scores. As others say in the end it will depend on Maths/English, there will be children at Emanuel with these CAT scores but they probably need to do very well in Maths and English to be getting in.

Thanks all, much appreciate your thoughts. It’s a minefield

Decent scores at year 4, I won't rule out for St Paul's or Westminster.

CAT scores are highly correlated with future GCSE scores according to Oxford research of 70,000 students.

Intelligence and educational achievement - ScienceDirect

Put some number into prospective, 2023 there is about 5% of the students get GCSE grade 9, CAT score 120+ is about 6%

Not every students in SPS or WS get GCSE 9.

These scores can definitely jump. DC’s mean average was 123 in Y4 and jumped to a mean of 136 in Y5 with no tutoring. However, we didn’t use the CATs to influence school selection and haven’t opted for any of the ‘super-selective’ schools as we don’t feel they will suit our DC.

It is absolutely a minefield my only piece of advice at this stage is to consider what’s important to you and your DC (for us it was pastoral support, environment and sports) and go on tours to get a sense of the school. Good luck with it!

Thanks again for the comments. I would much rather my DC felt that he was doing well and not struggling in the bottom 20%. But agree it’s a minefield!!!

These are great scores, don’t let random posters on mumsnet tell you otherwise. Always huge amounts of drivel posted here about needing 135+ for selective scores when in reality about 115 is fine for most.