Do we have any secondary school teachers who could answer me a question on this weeks Y9 Englsih SAT?

[lilibet]

It was the paper with the Much Ado Quotes

There must be someone!!

[roisin]

Lilibet - I'm not a teacher, but cover supervisor based in Eng and MFL Departments. I've seen the paper, and know a bit about SATs.

What's your question?

[percypig]

Am an English teacher but in N Ireland. Our SATS are different (not even officially called SATS) but I do know a fair bit about them and have resources etc. Will help if I can.

[lilibet]

Thank you

ds1 came home after sitting this paper (it was the reading paper) and said that they had an answer booklet and the only other sheet was a paper with quotes on but they had no question.

He 'guessed'what it was about by reading the passages and wrote what he thought!

Was there a question and what was it?

Roisin - how are you?

(Dh just asked me, 'who is Roisin? and I said, you know the one I slept with in Yorkshire!)

[roisin]

I'm fine thanks!

There was a question - sorry!
It's printed right at the front - on page 3 I think, before all the passages. It's only about two lines, but is in a box. Has he not seen a practice paper?

I can't remember the exact wording of the question, but it was about LANGUAGE: How does the language used betray Beatrice's attitude towards men (or similar).

What did your ds write about? [worried emoticon]
Did he ask his mates what they did?

Many of our students struggled to find 6 quotes/points to make on this question.

[percypig]

Just checked on tes.co.uk and the question was

'How does Beatrice use language to show her feelings about men?'

They would have been given a specific passage (or passages) from the play to guide their answer. Is it possible your son read the extract and somehow missed the question?

If not I'd definitely check with the school - mistakes do happen. A few years ago one of our A level classes were doing a paper on Frankenstein and the page references were totally wrong - so the extract they were directed to had nothing to do with the question.

[roisin]

Lilibet - I was thinking of you the other day. We need to change our car this year, and need something with plenty of legroom. I was trying to persuade dh to look at the Multipla, but he won't even consider it

[roisin]

Lilibet - what did ds1 have to say about it?

[lilibet]

Thanks - ds1 is completely blase about the whole education process - he wasn't even going to take a pen

Multiplas as FAB!!

Enid ahs one as well, the new ones don't look quite as bug eyed as the old ones, but I think they have charcter

[Moomin]

I would have thought he'd know about it if all question papers were faulty as the HoD would have made a do about it.
If I were you I'd give the school a ring and either speak to the HoD or ds's English teacher; ask the initial question about the paper and then explain what your ds has told them. They'll be able to work out whether it was an 'understandable' error or whther your ds was being a bit gormless (for want of a better word - sorry if that's a bit unfair to him!)

[Tbh, I really wouldn't worry too much: if it were the GCSEs I'd say do something but with SATs they're not worth wiping your arse on anyway - IMHO of course (I'm a 2ndary Eng teacher)]

[roisin]

Also, because English takes longer to mark, English SATs results aren't through until mid-Autumn; so most schools aren't able to use them for setting for yr10 - so it really shouldn't affect him too much if he hasn't reached his target.

But it's definitely worth letting the school know so they understand if he's not done so well; and also so they can improve their exam prep!

[shewhoneverdusts]

Hiya
do all schools have the same SATs papers? I always believed they did, but my friend's dd had a Richard III paper whereas everyone else seems to have had Much Ado. Any thoughts would be appreciated a she is now worrying.

[roisin]

shewhoneverdusts - schools have a choice as to which Shakespeare play they study.

I can't remember what the current list is, I think there are 3 or 4 to choose from, and they stay on the list for 3 or 4 years. Until this year lots of schools were doing Macbeth, but it's not on the syllabus this year, which is why lots have changed to Much Ado.

[shewhoneverdusts]

thanks Roisin
that should put her mind at rest.

[lilolilmanchester]

My YR 9 son did Richard III

[roisin]

The other possibility atm is The Tempest btw.

[Joe90]

I invigilated the Tempest paper and spent a few minutes myself wondering where the question was, it was on the inside front cover so unless children had been forewarned they could have easily missed it, it seems counter intuitive to look there. Luckily it looked like the classs I was invigilating realised where the question was. Do tell your sone he could ask the invigilator a question like that. I think it is worth asking the teacher if the exam board could be alerted to the bad alyout of the papre, just the kind of thing to make a nervous child panic. (Or better still, scrap the Sats)