After each mock test we recommend you spend at least 10-15 minutes looking through the results, discussing corrections with your child and picking out areas of difficulty to focus on.
Find out below what you should look for.
Standardised age score
The first number you will see at the top of your child's mock test transcript is their 'standardised age score'. This is the same scoring used in the real 11+ exams. Standardised scores remove variables and allow for fair comparison across students.
Each child's SAS is calculated by looking at the number of questions they answered correctly, the difficulty of the questions and their age in years and months.
As a general guideline we recommend aiming for a SAS of at least 115 by the time of the 11+ exams.
You can learn more about standardised age scores here.
Total time spent
Check the total time spent against the time limit for the test on the mock tests page. This will let you know if your child used the time wisely or if they were rushing.
In adaptive tests, such as the ISEB, if your child finishes the test early they can't go back to double check previous questions which means any remaining time is wasted.
You can also check the total time spent against the number of questions answered to make sure your child didn't run out of time.
In all 11+ exams, adaptive or non-adaptive, it is important to maximise the full time limit.
Performance by topic
This graph will show your child's average performance across each topic that was included in this test. It allows you to quickly pinpoint their strongest and weakest topics.
For a more detailed understanding of your child's ability we recommend you look at their individual corrections.
Individual corrections
When you are looking at your child's individual corrections one of the first things to check is how long they spent on each question. If they got a question incorrect and only spent 3 seconds on it it might be a sign they were rushing.
In this case you can have a conversation about the important of slowing down, reading questions carefully and double checking answers.
Another possibility is that your child saw the question and didn't feel confident answering it so decided to guess and move on to not waste time. This is why it is beneficial to go through corrections together with your child so you can get their input.
Some questions to ask are:
- What do you think this question is asking?
- Do you think you read the question carefully?
- What would you do differently next time?
In some cases your child may have made a silly mistake, such as selecting one answer where the question asked for two or using the wrong units in a maths question. In these situations remind them how important it is to double check their answers.
Other times it will be clear that it is something your child finds difficult. Click on the question to expand it and see the explanation. Once you have discussed the correction with your child if it they are still not feeling confident set an additional practice to their to-do list.
You see can the topic the question was on at the bottom of the answer explanation.
When you are creating a practice we recommend selecting one area at a time to work on with at least 15 questions. To learn more about how to set a practice click here.
Following each mock test we recommend setting at least 2-3 follow up practices.
It can also be beneficial to look at the questions your child got correct to see if there are any patterns of questions they consistently answer correct but spent a long time on. This could indicate an area they still need to work on to improve their speed and help them manage their time better.
Celebrating progress
As well as picking out areas to improve make sure that you take some time to celebrate your child's progress. If they were rushing and in this test made the most of the full time limit or if there is a specific type of question they previously got wrong but got correct this time make sure you take a chance to celebrate the progress they have made.
This can make mock tests a lot less daunting and revision a more positive experience for your child.
If you have any further questions about understanding mock test results please get in touch with us via email at support@atomlearning.co.uk.