Transfer Test AQE 2014-2015

flymetothemoon_2

Hi Mumsicle

So best 2 papers added to give 116 but AQE score was 1 point less at 115.

Same thing happened to my daughter a few yrs ago and she ended up missing 1St choice school by 1 point !

Very well done to your son & thanks for posting raw scores.

ni-mum

flymetothemoon wrote: »

Hi Mumsicle

So best 2 papers added to give 116 but AQE score was 1 point less at 115.

Same thing happened to my daughter a few yrs ago and she ended up missing 1St choice school by 1 point ! Her birthday is August.

Very well done to your son & thanks for posting raw scores.

I don't think it's as straightforward as adding two best papers together to get AQE score. When my DS did the tests three years ago his best two papers gave 123 but his score was 117.

N.I_Mum

And so the plot thickens! 123 down to 117 seems alot.makes you really wonder what way they calculate the final score.awful for children who miss out on a place by one or two marks.

thesecretteacher

There seems to be mass confusionhappening on here in the days following the results.

There are too many people on herelooking at raw scores and assuming that the two ‘highest’ are therefore the child’sbest scores. All the information from AQE suggests that this is NOT the case.

“A pupil whotakes all three tests will have threeage-standardised scores (one for each paper). The average of the best twoscores is computed for each pupil. These scores are then reported on adistribution with mean 100 and standard deviation 15. This means that when norm-referenced test scores are converted tostandard scores, the children are competing with the other children in theirage range and not with the test.”
This meansthat it is NOT just about the RAW scores. A child who scored 59/64 in an easiertest (which may have an average of 55) may not have as high a standardisedscore if they scored only 52/64 in a more difficult test ( where the average was 40 ). It really comes down to how far away from the AVERAGE FOR THAT TESTthey were not their raw score.

This mighthelp to explain people’s disappointments at their child’s scores being lowerthan scores in class. It is wholly dependent on working away from the AVERAGEand not dependent on any one magic number. Just because your child scored 75%in class means nothing….if the average of all the children sitting AQE was85%!!!!....sorry but that’s the reality. It also may help to explain whychildren who were TOP of the school didn’t perform as well as expected. Perhapsit was a weak school year….perhaps the children in their AQE birth month werebright and pushed the average up….

There is onlyone true reflection of an AQE score and even this isn’t particularly accurate buthas served me well over the past 5 years. Ask the school for your child’s NFERPIM and PIE scores for the past 5 years since P3. Average them out and I guaranteeit will not be far off the money!!

sca11ion

flymetothemoon wrote: »

Got letter today giving raw scores & explaining standardisation so here goes -

Paper 1 48
Paper 2 55
Paper 3 46

So best 2 papers (48 + 55) = 103 out of 128 = 80%

AQE score 103

Hi flymetothemoon

what month was your son born?

Craftyc

Thanks thesecretteacher for your insight. Our school gave a long talk last year before parents decided about the AQE and we were given the NFER results for p5 and p6 . I suppose unless the school tell you one does not know to compare.

At this talk we were given example of previous students and were told that because not all the children do the AQE that the NFER results would bear no reflection on the AQE mark. Of the examples given most AQE scores were about 14-20 marks lower than NFER score of the child.

We were told that a child with NFER score around 100 would find the AQE very challenging though not impossible to score about 100.

It was a very difficult process for parents and schools. I am sure the teachers find the situation very frustrating too.

Huglett

(Ask the school for your child’s NFERPIM and PIE scores for the past 5 years since P3. Average them out and I guarantee it will not be far off the money!!)

Not the case for my Daughter I'm afraid. NINA & NILA scores in the high 120's, NRI of 130 but her AQE result was 101. We are devastated as she won't get into any of the local schools!

Mrs_mum

Thanks thesecretteacher, that makes it slightly clearer to me and would definitely account for some of the lower (and higher) scores that I have heard of. It seems that it is partly just luck of the draw as to who your child is competing against!

Mum71_2

Hi my son has October birthday AQE result was 115 and raw scores 50 , 60 & 56.

Three years ago my eldest son with a March birthday AQE result was 109 and raw scores 58,56 &54.

Hope this helps.

Co_Down_mum

Hi All.

I have been watching this forum closely having had a child sit the test this year and another also a few years ago. Firstly can I say well done to all the children who have had to go through this whole process - and i mean all no matter what the scores produced.

My child did not perform as well as she had hoped and is in a vary difficult borderline position between a grammar school and secondary school. We have spoken to her about how we deal with both options both now and in the future should she end up in Secondary education and possibly wish to transfer if possible. By doing this we hope that she realises that this is not the end of the world and that she has options in the future and that we as her parents will work with her to achieve her goals.

In reading this forum, can I say i really find all of these discussions on raw scores quite frustrating as they are mainly coming from parents with kids who have achieved a score of well above the level required to get into any school in Northern Ireland and they will have their choice of school. WHat is the point in going over information which frankly no one apart from AQE know the real method of scoring. It is what it is and the raw scoring is not going to make a blind bit of difference to anyone. The bottom line with all of this process is not what the top score is but what is the lowest score your child needed to get into their school of choice. PLease accept it if your child has done well and move on. I would appreciate more feedback from others in similar situations to me dealing with lower scores and the possibility of children not going to their school of choice with their friends.

Sorry rant over!!!