Update on My Son’s Progress
September 2024 – Two Years in Med School
What a journey its been and how it has helped me grow as a parent and my son find himself. The pressure of exams and assessments has been immense but he’s persevered. He’s managed to make it the third year – but there have been times when I thought he was going to pack it in and change direction. He has been questioning his decision to do medicine and I’ve supported him in making the right choice – for him. Medicine is not for everyone and at the moment he’s still on track – but if he decides to change direction I’ll support his decision with the caveat he’s got to have an alternative plan that doesn’t involved the UCAT. CAT4, or university interviews !!!
July 2023 – End of the First Year in Med School
After an expensive year for me – I had to pay for my son’s living costs at university – his first year results are in and he passed with a distinction ! He’s learnt a lot about the world and matured into a young man who has the ability to cope with new challenges calmly and systematically. I’ve not had to support him at all with regards to his work and he has managed his independent life well. To think it all started with the CAT4 !
October 2022 – A-Level Results Are In
The results are in !! Three A*s – I am so proud. He’s got into the medical school he wanted ! Woohoo !! Three A*s in Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics is quite an achievement – I never expected it – thought he would drop a grade here and there but he surprised us. His journey now begins and my job is over – phew! – one down. It all started all those years ago with the CAT4 to give him the foundations he needed – he now has the skills he needs to continuously improve in any endeavor he chooses – as a parent I feel I’ve done everything possible and he, as a student has done what was needed to fulfill his potential and achieve his goals !
August 2022 – A-Level Results
Awaiting results ! The CAT4 tests were the key to getting my son into the right school – now 5 years later he is reaping the rewards. After a stressful few months filling in the university (UCAS) applications, practicing for the UCAT test, and doing practice medical university interviews – he’s finally got some offers – now he’s praying he gets the grades he needs. Passing the CAT4 test all those years ago helped him get into the right school and achieve things which I never imagined. He’s taking A-Level Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics and has been consistently getting the A*s he needs during his mocks – we can now only wait and see !
August 2020 – GCSE Results
After a horrible year with COVID lockdowns and online schooling my son’s hard work paid off. His grades came in and he had top grades in all subjects but two !!! Wow ! Click here to read more about his story. By going to one of the very best schools, attended by some of the very best students he was set up to do his very best – I just can’t believe it all started with passing the CAT4 and getting through the admission process !
How it All Began – The CAT4
I wanted my son to go to the best school in the area that we live in. I’d heard stories about the local school – and I definitely DIDN’T want my son to go there. A lot of the parents (and my sister !) were all trying get their children accepted at the one selective school within walking distance – this was the school where the teachers ‘gave a dam’ and the kids were all high achievers ending up in the best universities …
..With so much competition I knew I had to help – leaving it to my son would have spelt certain failure…
All I knew was the school was going to use CAT4 assessments (Cognitive Abilities Test) to check how smart he was – not what he knows. Kind of makes sense, if a child is intelligent he’ll pick things up quickly which is more important when you’re 11 years old. I asked about revision material wanting to give him a headstart – but there wasn’t any – in fact the school asked us not to revise. Aptitude can’t change they said. Yes that might be true, but …
… if other children have done these type of exams he’ll be at a disadvantage before he even starts …
This is when I started looking for practice exams and to my horror there was nothing out there and what was available was hard copy – the exam was online, so I knew doing a pen and paper test would simply add to his confusion during the real thing.
I didn’t want my son to lose his place because he was overwhelmed by a format and type of test that he’d never seen … I just imagined what it would feel like doing this type of exam for the first time …
I put my thinking hat on and started to work out some practice questions … The tests he had to sit were broken into Verbal, Numerical and Spatial – I wasn’t sure how many questions there were so just decided to have between 10-20 in each section – after a few weeks and a lot of hair pulling I had created a pretty accurate set of exams !!! I had to pay someone to move them online but the end result made it all worth while !!!!
Improving CAT4 Scores
He must have done my tests about 5 times – improving each time. He never got full marks but that’s not a problem since that would have made him a super genius ! When the day of exam came he wasn’t nervous at all. He went in the exam hall waving and laughing – to be honest that worried the hell out of me.
…but after the exam he was just as confident saying the tests were ‘easy peasy’ … it seems his confidence was well placed – a few days later the school called to say he’d scored in the top 5 for all three areas !!!!
I believe the practice he got helped immensely – he wasn’t nervous at all and knew what to expect. We have only one chance at our child’s education and I know I would have felt like a failure if I didn’t do everything I could to level the playing field. I’ve uploaded the exams onto this site to help other parents like me – try one out now – can you imagine your child sitting this exam without ever having done questions like this …
Check out the tests here and explore the different levels.
Get all your questions answered and review the GL Assessment CAT4 introduction video – click here.
