Support thread for parents of chilldren sitting the transfer test in 2011

travellinglight_2

These scores are good as far as I can see from my sons class scores. The maths would have been higher than any p4 score in my sons class. The english just about average and my son went on to score 103. HTH

leftieM

Okay, I'm about to break through the nerd barrier here....

All scores for SATs, including the old 11+ and AQE, are based on the 'normal distribution curve', so most children are somewhere in the middle.
If you look on P13 of the document below
http://www.testingforschools.com/help/Verbal%20Reasoning%20guidance%20notes.pdf

you will see the normal curve and where your child sits in terms of their score and how they are relative to their peers. All of this is age adjusted and comparable across tests so you can take the score in any year and compare it with other years.

So, looking at flymetothemoons numbers, the PIE score is bang in the middle. Her child is in the top 50%. The PIM score is really good and puts her child in the top 4%+ for maths. This is showing her child as having a talent for maths.
Overall, I'd estimate an AQE score of between 105 and 115.

leftieM

Ex-Spendaholic wrote: »

Leftie, I'm not going to pretend to know what you are talking about, my head is spinning just reading it. :rotfl:

However if its of any use, my child's P5 teacher said that kids with 115 or above are the ones who are likely to get a good AQE score. My child is sitting on 111 so I'm happy that she isnt far off the mark. Not looking forward to P6 and P7 though. :eek:

I've been trying to work out what the numbers mean all weekend. My daughter came home with scores that were a real surprise. I knew she was smart but I always thought she was struggling and was towards the bottom of the class in maths. Then she produces these numbers that are amazing and, frankly, a relief. Especially going into P6.

confused_mummy_3

Erm.... Just got these in additional information in a report although they are standardised they are not any thing to do with the transfer test.

84 or less = below average
85 - 115 = average
116 - 120 = above average
121 and above = excellent

If this was to be believed there aren't many children that sat the transfer test that would have been in the excellent category.

Pmum

Leftie,

Goodness knows I am no statistican but I reckon you are making too many assumptions to make your conclusions reliable.

The first being that the AQE results can be plotted as a normal curve. The info from the quintiles available for the 2009 and 2010 tests suggest to me that the curve was not a simple "bell shaped" normal distribution but had 2 "peaks.

But as I say, I am definately no stato.

leftieM

Have you anything on this? I tried to find info but got nothing. I based comparisons on the assumption that if you take any large enough sample and test the IQ/attainment/any ability you get a normal distribution. Also that a previous poster mentioned the post primary heads use the PiM and PiE scores in the absence of a transfer test result or if the transfer test result is not applicable, so they must be comparable in terms of banding.
I also took it from the old transfer test on which AQE is based which again worked on the basis of a normal distribution.
I'd love to see more info on this. All I've got is what's been said here and what's been put on the internet.
Would love a graph to get my teeth into. beats marking A-level papers (which is what I should be doing instead of prowling on here ).

Pmum

A level Maths , English or History?

;-)

(I only asked because of the Joyce quote!)

leftieM

confused_mummy wrote: »

Erm.... Just got these in additional information in a report although they are standardised they are not any thing to do with the transfer test.

84 or less = below average
85 - 115 = average
116 - 120 = above average
121 and above = excellent

If this was to be believed there aren't many children that sat the transfer test that would have been in the excellent category.

Having a nosey at the AQE scores for 2011, the top score was 127 and the top scores for entrance to schools are 121+ so it is tallying.

http://kipmcgrathlisburn.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/aqe-transfer-test-results-2011-gl-assessment-results-2011-northern-ireland-entrance-test/

I'm going to step away now and go and torture my child's teacher with bell curves and statistical distributions. Lucky her!

Pmum

I sent you a PM Leftie.

The problem I see is the difference around the mean.

leftieM

I spoke to my child's teacher about whether the SATs and AQE correlate and she said, yes, children that do well in those SATs tend to do well in the AQE, generally (no figures). She has found that children say they find the AQE CEA relatively easy after doing the SATs.
The normal distribution that I posted earlier applies to all of the SATs.