CAT4 glossary: the words on your child's report and the school's letter

Find the word you see on your child's CAT4 report or in the school's letter. Each entry says what the word means, and what it means for your child.

The words are in three groups: on GL's report for parents, numbers the school may give you, and words in the school's letter. If you know the word but not its group, find it here:

On GL's report for parents

GL Assessment, the company that makes CAT4, writes a report for parents. Some schools send it home. These are its words, from the top of the report to the end.

Individual report for parents

GL's CAT4 report written for parents. It shows whether each of the four scores (verbal, quantitative, non-verbal and spatial) is below average, average or above average, but not the score itself. It can show each score as a bar. It also says in words how your child may prefer to learn, with ideas for helping at home, and it can end with a page of predicted gradesThe grades that children with similar CAT4 scores got, on average, in later national exams. They are a guide, not a promise..

Other parents may talk about a score such as 115. That number is not on this report. It comes from the school's own report, written for teachers, which has all the numbers. Some schools pass the numbers on to parents; if you would like them, ask.

Which report will you get?

Level (Level: D)

The version of CAT4 for an age group, named by a letter: in England and Wales, usually D for Year 7The first year of secondary school in England and in British schools abroad, for children aged 11 to 12. Year 6 is the last year of primary school (age 10 to 11)., E for Year 8, F for Years 9 and 10. Each child is compared with children of the same age.

"Level: D" at the top of the report names the version your child took. It is not a mark, so a child who sat Level D did not "get a D". Our level pages have practice questions written for one level each: see the list at the end of this page.

Age (11:01)

The age on the report is your child's age on the day of the test, in years and months. For example, 11:01 means 11 years and 1 month. Each score compares your child with children of that same age, which means the youngest children in a class are not compared with the oldest.

It may be a good idea to check the age printed on the report and let the school know if it is wrong, because the scores could then be wrong too.

Potential

Potential is what your child could go on to achieve. CAT4 gives you an idea of what your child's potential looks like now, but it does not show the most they can ever do. GL says low scores should never limit what teachers expect.

The report uses the word when it says CAT4 can help a child reach their potential at school. GL also says that reasoning, like strength in sport, can grow with experience.

Verbal reasoning

Reasoning with words: the two CAT4 tests where your child finds how words are linked.

"Verbal" here means "with words", not "spoken". Your child reads each question alone and chooses one of five answers. A child who is still learning English often scores lower on these two tests than on the others.

A low verbal score

Quantitative reasoning

Reasoning with numbers: the two CAT4 tests where your child finds the rule that links numbers.

The report also calls this part "Numerical". It is not a test of what your child has learned in maths lessons: the task is to find the rule. In GL's sample question, 1 goes with 2 and 5 goes with 10, so 4 goes with 8: the rule is "multiply by 2". Some schools use this score to help decide which maths class, or setA class for one subject, such as maths, where pupils are grouped by how well they are doing: a top set, a middle set and so on. Some schools move pupils between sets during the year., a child joins.

Non-verbal reasoning

Reasoning with shapes and patterns, with no words or numbers: the two CAT4 tests where your child finds the rule that links a set of shapes.

It is easy to confuse it with spatial ability, the next entry. In the non-verbal tests your child finds the rule that links a set of shapes. In the spatial tests your child imagines a square of paper being folded, or finds a shape hidden in a bigger image. Because the non-verbal and spatial tests need no reading, they can show the reasoning of a child who is still learning English.

Spatial ability

Imagining shapes and turning or folding them in your head: the two CAT4 tests with folded paper and hidden shapes.

School letters may call it "spatial awareness" or "spatial reasoning". It is the same part of the test. GL says this ability can be hard to see in class, so a high spatial score can be a surprise to you and to the school.

Battery

GL's word for one of the four parts of CAT4: verbal (words), quantitative (numbers), non-verbal (shapes and patterns) and spatial (imagining shapes in the mind). Each part has two short tests.

A letter that says your child will take "3 tests" means three sessions. The eight tests are usually given in three sessions, so there are still four batteries.

The eight question types

The names of CAT4's eight short tests, two in each part, as printed on the report's page of example questions. Each test has one type of question.

One example of each type of question

Profile

A comparison of two CAT4 scores, verbal and spatial. The report for parents describes it in words; the school's report gives it a label, such as 'no bias' or 'mild spatial bias'.

On the report for parents, "Profile" is also the heading over all four bars; the comparison of two scores is in the summary under them. The summary says how your child may prefer to learn. "A slight preference for learning by reading, writing and discussion" means your child's verbal score is higher than the spatial score. A preference for learning "that uses visual images" means the spatial score is higher.

"Bias" here does not mean unfair: it means one score is clearly higher. The school's report gives one of seven labels:

• No bias: the two scores are close. 66 children in 100 have this label.
• Mild, moderate or extreme verbal bias: a higher verbal score, from a little higher (mild) to a lot higher (extreme). 11, 4 and 2 children in 100 have these.
• Mild, moderate or extreme spatial bias: a higher spatial score, in the same three steps. Again, 11, 4 and 2 children in 100.

A spatial bias does not mean a low verbal score: both scores can be high, with the spatial score higher. Use the summary's ideas for home, but do not treat the profile as a rule for how your child must learn. GL itself says it would be wrong to label a child with a preference that teaching must always follow. Read it as showing which kind of thinking is your child's stronger one. Most children with a bias have a different profile two years later.^{1GL Assessment, CAT4 and strategies for learning: the share of children with each profile (Figure 3), and that children tested two years apart are "unlikely to retain the same profile" unless it is "no bias".}

The profile: words against shapes

Average range (the yellow band)

The yellow band on GL's report for parents. A bar that ends inside it shows a score that is average for your child's age: on the school's report, a score of 89 to 111.^{2GL Assessment, sample Individual report for parents (Irish edition, 2019): the four bars, the note that "the yellow shading represents the average range", the profile summary and the table of predicted grades.}

The band is wide, and about 54 children in 100 score inside it. So a bar that ends near the top of the band is average, not above average. A bar near the bottom is average too, not below average. The yellow band does not mean a score of 100: it is a range, with 100 in its middle.

Is your child's score good?

Above average, below average

GL's words for scores: average is 89 to 111, above average 112 to 126, below average 74 to 88. Beyond these, 127 and up is very high, and 73 and below is very low.

On the report for parents, a bar that ends beyond the yellow band, on the high side, is above average. One that stops before the band is below average. You may read elsewhere that anything from 85 to 115 is average. That wider range is not what GL calls average: on a CAT4 report, average means 89 to 111.^{3GL Assessment, Quick data guide: the nine bands, the scores in each, and GL's names for them.}

Indicators (predicted grades)

The grades that children with similar CAT4 scores got, on average, in later national exams. They are a guide, not a promise.

On the report for parents they are shown in a table, with a row for each subject. Each row gives two grades: the "Most likely" grade and the "If challenged" grade. Depending on your child's age and school, they are for exams such as GCSEsThe exams most pupils in England take at age 16, one per subject, graded from 9 (highest) to 1. Older reports may show letter grades, from A* down. at 16 or A levels at 18.

The table has rows for many subjects, all calculated from your child's CAT4 scores, not from tests in those subjects. So a row for a subject such as textiles (making things from cloth) does not mean CAT4 found your child good at it.

Predicted grades: "most likely" and "if challenged"

'Most likely' grade

The 'Most likely' grade, on the predicted grades page, is the grade that children with scores like your child's got, on average, in each subject. Many of those children got a higher grade and many a lower one, which is why the grade is not a promise for your child.

It assumes your child makes ordinary progress at an ordinary school.

'If challenged' grade

The 'If challenged' grade, on the predicted grades page, is a second, higher grade that your child could reach with extra effort and challenge. In GL's examples, about a quarter of similar children reach this grade or higher.^{4GL Assessment, CAT4 UK technical report, section on indicators: the 'most likely' result is an average, and in GL's example 25% of students reach the 'if challenged' result or above.}

For example, take "Most likely 5, If challenged 6" in maths. Children with scores like your child's got about a grade 5 on average, and some of them got a 6 or higher. The 6 is not a grade your child must reach. GL suggests schools use the 'If challenged' grade when they decide a target grade, a grade to aim for. If your child has a target grade, the target is still the school's own decision, and you can ask the school how it was set and whether it will be looked at again.

Numbers the school may give you

The school's own report has numbers that the report for parents leaves out, and some schools pass them on to parents.

Standard Age Score (SAS)

The Standard Age Score is the main CAT4 score, which compares your child with children of the same age in years and months. A score of 100 is in the middle, and about half of children score between 89 and 111.

On every level from Pre-A (Year 3) to G, scores go from 59 to 141. A score of 122 is above average for your child's age and does not mean 122 out of 141, because 141 is only the highest score the test gives. In international schools, children are compared with children of the same age in the UK. Ireland has its own edition for levels D to G, which compares children with children of the same age in Ireland (see CAT4 in Ireland).

GL's Progress Tests and its reading test, NGRT, give a Standard Age Score too (Progress Tests and NGRT).

Is your child's score good? Find it in this table

Percentile

How many children in 100 of the same age scored the same as your child or lower. A percentile of 84 means your child did as well as or better than 84 in 100.

It is not a percentage of right answers. A percentile of 93 does not mean 93% of the questions were right. It means that only about 7 in 100 children of the same age scored higher.

NPR (national percentile rank)

The name for the percentile on the school's CAT4 report: how many children in 100 of the same age scored the same as your child or lower.

An NPR of 50 is the middle. NPRs from 23 to 77 go with the average scores, 89 to 111. Like any percentile, it is not a percentage of right answers. The report for parents does not show it.

Stanine (ST)

One of nine bands that group CAT4 scores, from 1 (lowest) to 9 (highest). Band 5 is the middle. A score of 115 is in band 7.

On the school's report it is the row or column marked ST. Stanines 4, 5 and 6 are average, and they cover the same scores as the yellow band, 89 to 111. Stanines 7 and 8 are above average, and 9 is very high. Stanines 2 and 3 are below average, and 1 is very low.

So a stanine of 4 is average. It is not "4 out of 9".

Group rank (GR)

Where your child came among the pupils the school compared them with, often a class or the whole year. It says nothing about how your child compares across the country.

For example, "=4" in a column headed "GR (/17)" means 4th of 17 pupils, sharing that place with one or more other pupils. In a class where most children score high, a child with an average score can be near the bottom of the group. Use the SAS to compare your child with children across the country.

Mean score (Mean SAS, overall)

The average of your child's four CAT4 scores (add them and divide by 4): one number for the whole test. The school's report may call it the mean, the mean SAS or the overall score.

Read it with the same ranges as the four scores: 89 to 111 is average. So a mean of 102 is average, not above average. It is just above 100, the middle score, and in stanine 5. The report for parents does not show the mean.

When the four scores are far apart, GL warns that the mean should be read with care: it can hide a real strength or weakness. As a rough guide, when two scores differ by 10 points or more, your child is probably stronger in one than the other, not just luckier on the day.

Confidence band (margin of error)

How far a score could be from your child's real level, because no test is exact. For a verbal score of 100, the real level is very likely between 92 and 108. GL calls this range a confidence band.

On another day, the same child could score a few points higher or lower. So the school's report shows a range around each score, wide enough to hold your child's real level 9 times in 10. That is the "90%" in "90% confidence band".

So the 90% is about the band, not the single number. The single score is only the best guess; read the band instead. Your child's real level is very likely inside it, and only about 1 time in 10 outside it.

How exact is a score?

Raw score, and questions attempted

The number of questions your child answered correctly. A wrong answer does not take marks away.

The school's report may also show how many questions your child answered (attempted) in each part, such as 48 of 48. Many blank answers can mean that the score does not show what your child can do. GL then suggests a second test, six months or more later.

Many questions left blank

Standardised

Compared with a large group of children of the same age, so that 100 is the middle score. CAT4 scores are standardised; a mark such as 33 out of 50 is not standardised.

Letters may say the scores are compared with "national benchmarks", a standard for the whole country: that is the same idea. When a school's admissions page asks for "standardised test results", it means scores like these, from CAT4 or a test such as GL's Progress Tests.

Words in the school's letter

CAT4 and CATs

GL Assessment's Cognitive Abilities Test, fourth edition: for most ages, eight short timed tests of reasoning with words, numbers and shapes, and of imagining shapes in your head, in three sessions.

Schools and parents may call it "CATs" or "Cognitive Ability Tests". It tests reasoning, not what your child has learned in lessons. It is not a government test: GL sells it only to schools.

Our guide to the test explains preparing for CAT4: our view of practice, and GL's advice against practice, quoted word for word. Our practice test page explains the research on sitting a test again, and on coaching.

Other tests called "CATs"

Baseline test

A test at the start of a new school, so teachers know where each child is starting from. A school may also use the name for an entry test.

Many secondary schools give CAT4 as a baseline test early in Year 7The first year of secondary school in England and in British schools abroad, for children aged 11 to 12. Year 6 is the last year of primary school (age 10 to 11)., to plan teaching and set targets. The name can also mean an entry test: one international school asks for "a CAT4 baseline assessment" before it offers a place.

Set

A class for one subject, such as maths, where pupils are grouped by how well they are doing: a top set, a middle set and so on. Some schools move pupils between sets during the year.

Each school decides its sets in its own way. Some use CAT4 scores together with SATsNational tests at the end of primary school in England (Year 6, age 10 to 11), in reading, maths, and grammar, punctuation and spelling. 100 is the expected standard. results. In "set targets", the word has a different meaning: to "set" a target is to decide it.

Sets

Target grade, and FFT

A grade the school sets for your child to aim for in a subject. Each school sets them in its own way, for example from CAT4 scores or FFT estimates.

FFT (Fischer Family Trust) is an organisation that works with schools and does not aim to make a profit. Its estimates show what grades similar pupils got later, and schools can use them to set targets. A target is the school's decision, not a CAT4 result. Ask how your child's targets were set, and when they will be looked at again.

Target grades

Attainment

What a child has learned in school subjects, such as reading and maths, and the tests that measure it, such as SATs. CAT4 measures reasoning, not attainment.

So a child's CAT4 scores and their results in school tests can differ. Schools use CAT4 scores together with other information about your child.

Gifted and talented register

A school's list of pupils it sees as very able, who may be given extra challenge. Each school decides who is on it.

A gifted and talented register

Banding test

A test some areas use to sort children who apply to secondary schools into ability groups, so that each school takes a mix of all abilities.

In some areas, CAT4 is the banding test. In Tower Hamlets, an area of London, children applying for Year 7 places sit it, and parents are not told the score at any point in the move to secondary school.

Selective school

A school that chooses its pupils by a test or by their results, rather than taking every child who applies.

Some selective schools, such as some private and international schools, use CAT4 as their test. Ask the school which scores it looks at.

11+ (eleven-plus)

An entrance test, taken at about age 10 or 11, for grammar schools: schools in parts of England, and in Northern Ireland, that choose pupils by test.

The 11+ has its own test papers; it is not CAT4.

Year 7

The first year of secondary school in England and in British schools abroad, for children aged 11 to 12. Year 6 is the last year of primary school (age 10 to 11).

In Scotland the same year is called S1, and in Northern Ireland Year 8.

Key Stage 2, and the other Key Stages

The last four years of primary school in England, from age 7 to 11. The SATs come at the end of it.

Key Stage 3 is Years 7 to 9, from age 11 to 14: the first three years of secondary school. Key Stage 4 is Years 10 and 11, from age 14 to 16, when most children take GCSEsThe exams most pupils in England take at age 16, one per subject, graded from 9 (highest) to 1. Older reports may show letter grades, from A* down..

SATs

National tests at the end of primary school in England (Year 6, age 10 to 11), in reading, maths, and grammar, punctuation and spelling. 100 is the expected standard.

SATs test what your child has been taught. CAT4, which some schools call "CATs", tests reasoning. The two use 100 in different ways. A SATs score of 100 means your child reached the expected standard, as most children do. A CAT4 score of 100 is the average.

CAT4 scores and SATs scores are different

GCSE

The exams most pupils in England take at age 16, one per subject, graded from 9 (highest) to 1. Older reports may show letter grades, from A* down.

Grade 4 is a "standard pass" and grade 5 a "strong pass", in the government's words. A result of U (unclassified) is below grade 1.

A level

Exams taken mainly at age 18, after two years of study, one for each subject, graded from A* (highest) to E.

GL's sample letter, for schools to send to parents, says CAT4 can help set targets for A level as well as for GCSE.

EAL (English as an additional language)

A child whose first language is not English.

Their verbal score is often well below their other three scores, which GL calls "quite typical". The shape tests (non-verbal and spatial) need no English, so they show more of what the child can do.

If your child is learning English

SEND, and access arrangements

Special educational needs and disabilities: a child who needs extra help or arrangements to learn.

For CAT4, GL allows no extra time, because the tests are timed. A child who usually has someone to read questions aloud (a reader) must read the verbal questions alone. For an entrance test, a school may offer access arrangements, such as changes to how the test is given; ask the school. Letters may also name the SENCO (the teacher in charge of special needs) or an EP (an educational psychologist).

IQ

A score from an intelligence test. GL describes CAT4 as a test of reasoning abilities that grow with experience, and calls it wrong to read its scores as IQ scores.

So a mean scoreThe average of your child's four CAT4 scores (add them and divide by 4): one number for the whole test. The school's report may call it the mean, the mean SAS or the overall score. of 102 is not an IQ of 102.

Is CAT4 an IQ test?

Progress Tests and NGRT

Other GL tests that schools may give as well as CAT4: the Progress Tests in English, maths and science, and the New Group Reading Test (NGRT).

They test what your child has learned, and they give the same kinds of score as CAT4, such as the Standard Age ScoreThe Standard Age Score is the main CAT4 score, which compares your child with children of the same age in years and months.. A school may send scores from these tests and from CAT4 together, so check which test each score is from. A maths score on a Progress Test is not a CAT4 score.

All our CAT4 guides

Practice questions for your child's year

Worked examples and questions of each type, every answer explained. Each level page also has a PDF of its questions, with the answers. In Year 7 (Grade 6), we suggest starting with the Level D page, then the 24 questions for more practice.

• Year 7, ·Grade 6, Level D
• 24 free questions, all eight types, Years 6 and 7, ·Grades 5 and 6
• Year 8, ·Grade 7, Level E
• Years 9 and 10, ·Grades 8 and 9, Level F
• Other years have no page yet. Our guide to the CAT4 test shows one example of each type of question. For Years 2 and 3 (Grades 1 and 2), we suggest games, not test papers.

About CAT4

• The CAT4 test, What your child will sit, the test day, and how schools use results
• CAT4 in the UAE, Which grades take it, at which level, and whether it affects admission
• CAT4 in Ireland, 6th class: which level, and why it cannot decide a school place

Your child's scores

• CAT4 scores explained, What a score of 100, 115 or 130 means, and what to ask the school
• CAT4 glossary, SAS, stanine, NPR and the other words on reports and school letters, This page

Notes

1. GL Assessment, CAT4 and strategies for learning: the share of children with each profile (Figure 3), and that children tested two years apart are "unlikely to retain the same profile" unless it is "no bias". ↩

2. GL Assessment, sample Individual report for parents (Irish edition, 2019): the four bars, the note that "the yellow shading represents the average range", the profile summary and the table of predicted grades. ↩

3. GL Assessment, Quick data guide: the nine bands, the scores in each, and GL's names for them. ↩

4. GL Assessment, CAT4 UK technical report, section on indicators: the 'most likely' result is an average, and in GL's example 25% of students reach the 'if challenged' result or above. ↩