National Reference Test. Year 11

[highdaysandholudays]

Has anyone's child been asked to sit this? My son really does not want to do it. I'm kind of with him on it. If he sits it and can't do any of the questions my concern is that he will lose confidence. I am trying to keep him focused enough to scrape a few GCSE passes. I'd appreciate any advice or knowledge about this. Thanks.

Teacher here. These are fairly new so doubt that you will get much by way of responses. Try to reassure your son. It really is nothing to worry about because its not designed to be revised for, it is random and the data recieved is anonymised. It's main use is just for additional guidance in setting grade boundaries. You may find out more about it here NRT Ofqual 10 things to know

@KOLOlolo thanks for your response. The link is very helpful. I can see that I'm not alone in expressing concern about the timing of the test and the possibility of missing lessons. I'll talk to him more over half term about it.

DD did one last year. She joked that she was pleased her poor Maths skills were going to bring the grade boundaries down!

@Bramshott I think my son is thinking the same

Very interesting. Probably a good idea. If he is low performance I'd take great comfort in the fact it might make grade boundaries more realistic tbh.

It seems it has no comeback at all individually just sets standards comparisons. I've been involved in qual development and grade boundary settings so this is super interesting to me.

@Boomboom22 I think the first idea I had was that he was chosen because he wasn't expected to do well. If that is so how randomised is the candidate selection? This is just some thoughts to the internet in general not just you @Boomboom22

We had a group do it last year. It really didn't take that much of their time or brain space.