Transfer Test AQE 2014-2015

Mrs_mum

That's great news flymetothemoon, you must be feeling relieved. Maybe the tutor just gave him a bit of confidence. My daughters scores have also really went up and are staying up, thank goodness. Let's hope they can keep their cool on the day!

MaggieMc

Methody's low entry score last year was 95 - not 104 as previously posted on earlier thread.

flymetothemoon_2

MaggieMc wrote: »

Methody's low entry score last year was 95 - not 104 as previously posted on earlier thread.

Wow, I think that is the lowest for Methody since AQE began - it just goes to show that, once parents receive results, they should try for every school they may want and should not be put off by the lowest scores needed in previous years as there can be a big difference from one year to the next for any school.

snoot80

Hi there everyone! Does anyone know how they work out the aqe score?? All papers are out of 64 so if my child is scoring 50/64 does that mean her score is 100 or is it not that simple!! Arghh feeling frustrated with this whole process! With only 3 weeks until the first exam my wee girls scores are up and down and in general she seems to be getting 70%!! If my calculations are correct then she will be lucky to get a place in grammar school!

flymetothemoon_2

Hi snoot80

Try not to worry too much, 50/64 (78%) is a very good score & would probably give an AQE score of around 105 - 110. Some schools say a score of 70% translates to an AQE score of around 100 give or take. Other schools say kids need 75% to get a score over 100 which is good for most grammars. AQE marks all 3 papers and the kids are given a score based on their best 2 papers. If your daughter is consistently getting 70+ she'll be fine. People reckon most kids actually perform a bit better in the real tests. Do you know which schools she prefers and what their previous minimum scores have been?

Busy_mum_3

Hi snoot80

I emailed the AQE office a while back to ask if it is possible to estimate standardised scores based on the results of a practice test. Here is an extract below - also if you look at some of the MSE forums for previous years this is discussed in detail.

"It is impossible to estimate what any practice paper would equate to in the actual test.

When it comes to the actual test your child's final score will depend on the scores and ages of all the other children who also took the test. Therefore because the test papers & the children who sit the test are different each year it can't be predicted how a child will perform compared to all the other children.

It is complicated how the AQE arrive at the final scores. They 'standardise' scores and it seems there is never enough information published to know how to convert from raw score to standardised, or vice versa. one parent who's child sat the AQE in 2012 obtained the child's 'raw' score which was an average of 75% for the best two papers. This equated to a standardised score of 96. Therefore the parent estimates close to 80% was achieved for a standardised score of 100 last year (the average). However it could be lower or higher this year as the paper will differ & the pupils sitting the test will also be different".

snoot80

Thank you! I'm just worried that she really wants to go to grammar school because of her friends etc and I think she's just going to be pushing it to get a score of 100! My wee girl is still making lots of very silly mistakes and it's worrying at this point!! She wants to go to Banbridge Academy and lowest score let in last year was 98! We went to a familiarisation day yesterday and last year 226 people did their aqe and this year their are 356 applicants for 184 places!! Appears like it could be tough competition this year!

Veggie_Northern_Ireland

Snoot80... My sister is sitting around the same score as you wrote (usually 79%) and it has me worried too if it'll be enough for a score of 100. At the minute the school she wants usually takes a minimum score of 99.

It's a bit of a relief when I see people writing a score of 75% should be 100 then others say around 80% should be 100... That's so close to her usual score that it's worrying she might miss by a mark or two.

We're really relying that she'll work to her best ability on the day and the whole situation of the tests will push her to fully read the questions and double check answers. Fingers crossed the stress doesn't cause the opposite effect! :eek:

I was feeling a bit more confident when last weeks past paper was 87% until the next one was only 75%. At least taking 3 tests lets them have one bad one that won't be counted. Fingers crossed that there are two very good ones too.

flymetothemoon_2

snoot80
Don't be put off by the fact that Banbridge will have 356 kids sitting the tests for only 184 places. There is nothing unusual about that. A few yrs ago at an open night at Belfast High School they announced they were almost doubling the number of kids who could apply to sit AQE tests in their school compared to the previous 2 years. That worried parents who thought it might be even harder to get their child into the school in future but that didn't turn out to be the case. The lowest score accepted before this change was 99 and the lowest score accepted to date has never been above 99. The same year at a BRA open night they said they would have about 325 kids sitting the test for 200 places - so you see, most schools are probably doing the same sort of thing. I reckon they are not only trying to get the highest calibre of kids for their individual schools but are also simply trying to satisfy the demand for these tests from parents everywhere as it shows no sign of abating, regardless of the campaign to end selection. Don't worry, your little princess will be fine, there's a few more weeks to go to get her steadied up!

Mrs_mum

We went to Belfast High familiarisation day yesterday. They made the kids feel really relaxed and all the kids seem to come out smiling and laughing. They didn't do a mock paper, they just showed them how to fill in the front cover sheet of the test paper, showed them where they would be sitting, played a quiz with them and gave them a goodie bag. Definitely think it helped with the nerves. They said the lowest score in the AQE was 55 and the highest score a child could get was 145! Don't know of anyone who has got 145, the highest I have heard of is 128. They said that your child will not lose points if they are an older child. They weren't able to give an explanation of how the scores were worked out. Would love to meet the person who actually came up with the formula for the standardised scores, lol