Transfer Test AQE 2014-2015

flymetothemoon_2

Greenisler - I feel for you - your son has done very well - 99 is a very good score and would achieve entry to most AQE grammar schools across NI every year to date. I hope you intend to apply to your 2 local schools even though they needed 101 in the past because you have no way of knowing what their lowest score will be this year, your son may well be able to get in to both of them this year. Without a doubt, a score of 99 without having been tutored, indicates how very capable he would be of coping with the academic rigour of a grammar school and therefore he deserves a place so I very much hope he gets what he deserves. Please apply for all the schools you want in order of preference and just let the system sort it out and hope for the best. If you're not in, you can't win! I agree that we were better off with the 11+ but we are left in this mess and all we can do is work through it as best we can. Thanks for sharing your scores, I think it is very helpful to other parents. I look forward to hearing good news from you on this forum at the end of May - best wishes .

Mack13

I know there has been lots of comments regarding the standardised scoring of the Aqe but I think that some of you are still a little confused as to how the system works. There seems to be some who think that the AQE score ends up more or less the same as the raw score give or take a few marks. The fact that the two scores are close is a complete coincidence. All standardised tests have an average score of 100 regardless of what it is marked out of. At the minute
I am testing primary 2 pupils and the maximum score achievable in the test is 32 but when put into the age standardisation table the average will still be 100. I think it is unfortunate that when you add the two aqe score together you get what looks like an aqe score but when you think about it if you got a particularly hard set of tests then a score of say 50% 64/128 could come out as average and therefor be awarded an aqe of 100. 100 is a always the average in standardised tests. Won't let me post a link here but if you google 'example of age standardisation table' you should be able to get one on the nfer website. Hope this helps.
Also can I just say that as a parent of a child who has just went through the AQE, I think this forum is brilliant for parents who have been anxious about results and now school choices. While I do agree that averages will change from year to year, I do think the comparison table that has been compiled is a useful guideline for future parents going through this. Thankfully both of my children are through it now and that's me done and dusted with AQE!

sca11ion

Hi All

still updating the stats we have on page 30 - but has been pointed out, there are errors in the methodology (thanks attritioner et al)

So .... not just the two highest RAW scores. They might well be the ones eventually used for the final AQE score, but if one of the 3 tests scores lower on average (for any given month), then that score would result in a higher 'intermediate' score that would be averaged with the other higher 'intermediate' score and give the final result.

I'll try to go through them again, make a new post with the 3 scores, month and final AQE - I keep banging on about the more info we have the better, even if we have to do it ourselves.

Don't want to inundate AQE again, but surely (given the Data Protection Act) their full disclosure should have said which two of the three RAW scores that our children achieved were counted towards the final AQE mark, and what mark they were given on each in order to reach the final result.

AQE surely have this information?

sca11ion

Greenisler wrote: »

We did not have tutoring and now regret this as this is a bright kid who does extremely well in school. Despite getting a very creditable 99 we know that we will not even be considered by the two local grammars as their cut-offs last year were 101+

QUOTE]

Agree with everything you said, but snipped just to comment on this, from my own point of view.

Folk have pointed out that tutoring for some and not others is an inequality. I honestly hope that your kid (without tutoring) gets into the school that they deserve to be in and as flymetothemoon said, please go for it anyway.

I'm one of the parents guilty of having my daughter tutored, out of necessity in my world, otherwise she would probably be facing the same situation as yours. It was limited to once every two weeks, my wife and I also tutored (wife being great and me being extremely impatient leading to arguments and me being sacked from the tutoring role)

I'm not sure all parents put their children through this for the same reason - for me, I'd be happy if there was no transfer test at all and my children just went to the next school. But I see myself with no choice, given that the alternative transfer test mess is in place, and the academic children *not always academic but tutored to others demise* as all parents just want the best for their kids, and do it different ways, mine being to have a tutor instead of me, less arguments

Greenisler

all parents just want the best for their kids, and do it different ways, mine being to have a tutor instead of me, less arguments [/QUOTE]


Yes, that's the crux of it, we all just want the best for them and I very much agree that there's no right or wrong way to do it, you have to go with what suits your child.

We have applied to the locals anyhow, but realistically we have no chance, however, 'no stone left unturned' is my new motto....heaven knows what will be in place when our next is due to transfer.

ooo000ooo

sca11ion wrote: »

Greenisler wrote: »

I'd be happy if there was no transfer test at all and my children just went to the next school.

In an ideal world all schools would be equal and all children would be normal, well balanced individuals interested in bettering themselves. Until this happens I'm quite happy to do whatever it takes to get my kids into the best school i can along with other children who also want to learn and avoid the wasters who will hold them back and drag them down.

flymetothemoon_2

I'm quite happy to do whatever it takes to get my kids into the best school i can along with other children who also want to learn and avoid the wasters who will hold them back and drag them down.[/QUOTE]

My sentiments exactly! I have no interest in my 2 local secondaries, as they both have more than their fair share of wasters who have no interest in learning and just want to mess around. I know for a fact that one of the secondaries only concentrates on their top 20% of kids to get the required number of grades a to c at gcse to keep the dept of education off their backs. Regarding the other 80% of pupils, the schools main objective is to get them in and out of a day without incident and thats a quote from the Principal. With 2 such unattractive local. Secondaries I had no choice but to put my kids through aqe.

thestack

There are also wasters at grammar schools and as reported earlier in the year in over half of grammar schools GCSE results are getting worse.

AO78

Greenisler - when you say you were horrified at the level of pressure, was this from the school? Other kids?

My children are a long way off from this stage but I’m already very conscious of it – which is why I dip in and out of this thread from time to time. I can’t find any information to confirm if there’s work still ongoing to find a Dept of Education backed solution to the mess or if we’re just stuck with it. If so, that’s scandalous.

As far as the pressure in concerned, my experience is that it’s all from parents. Everything I say is going to be anecdotal of course, but all around me, year after year, I see parents with absolutely no regard for how they are speaking in front of their children. (Of course this applies to all sorts of subjects, not just AQE.) Talk about how important it is, how stressful it is, how awful it is, mean spirited talk about how other kids - who isn’t very bright (or worse), who is getting tutored, who’s *only* doing well because they’re getting tutored (with a tone) etc etc etc And the children are soaking it all up. I was in a dr surgery last week and a lady was sitting with her p2 daughter telling someone, very loudly, about how her daddy is already ‘worried sick’ about how she’ll do in the AQE and what school she’ll end up in. And I guess they won’t think to blame themselves if she ends up stressed when the time comes. ‘Oh the pressure is awful’ – yep, she’s had 5 or 6 years of hearing how her daddy is sick with worry all over 3 little tests.

ooo000ooo

Makes you wonder how some parents will cope come gcse time in a few years!