Are Girls really better than Boys?

Do girl's schools score better than boy's schools in exams? Or is this just hearsay?  Perhaps mixed schools perform just as well as boys and girls only?  -

Hypothesis 

 We have heard it said that ‘students at girl's school are more likely to score higher marks than those students at a boy's only school in exams'?   Here at www.11plusDIY.co.uk, we are perfectly placed to answer this question.  As part of the website www.11plusDIY.co.uk we maintain nationwide performance figures for students who are revising for the grammar school ‘11 Plus' or similar school entrance exams.

 Methodology

To prove (or disprove) whether students studying at girls schools score better than their male counterparts in a test situation, we have taken a sample of nearly 500,000 questions answered by 11PLUSDIY students nationwide in the last three months (September – December 2010) and analysed the results on a girl, boy and mixed school basis.  11PLUSDIY specialises in practice exams for the eleven plus.

Results - 11 plus Students – By School Type

The Top Ten Schools

The findings of our study show that in the www.11PLUSDIY.co.uk top ten performing schools, 5 are mixed and 5 are girl's only schools.  Interestingly we have no boy's only schools in the top ten – See Table 1.

Table 1 – Top Ten

Rank Average Score % School   

1 90.32% Barton Court Grammar School, Canterbury (mixed)   

2 84.97% Colchester County High School for Girls, Colchester (girls)   

3 84.22% Slough Grammar School, Slough (mixed)   

4 83.02% Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls, Sutton Coldfield (girls)   

5 82.79% Stretford Grammar School, Stretford (mixed)   

6 82.79% Queen Mary's High School, Walsall (girls)   

7 82.59% Tiffin Girls' School, Kingston upon Thames (girls)   

8 82.47% King Edward VI Five Ways School, Bartley Green (mixed)   

9 81.67% Herschel Grammar School, Slough (mixed)   

10 81.38% Woodford County High School, Woodford Green (girls)

The Top Fifty Schools

If we stretch this analysis to our top fifty schools, the findings of our study show that there are now 20 which cater only for boys, 17 for only girls and 13 which are mixed.

 This maybe evidence that the boys are not as far behind as first thought.

If we examine these results in more detail, the average score for boys, girls and mixed school students on www.11plusdiy.co.uk tests shows that it's the mixed students who on average score the highest, with an average mark of 79.81%.  This average is just in front of the girl's only schools 79.19%, with the boys lagging behind at 74.93% - See Table 2.

Table 2 – Type of Schools (Average - Percentage of Correct Question answers for practice 11 Plus exams)

Type of School Avg %    

Mixed 79.81%   

Girls only 79.19%   

Boys only 74.93%

Conclusion

 From a sample of approximately 500,000 questions on our top fifty performing grammar schools on the www.11plusdiy.co.uk system, we have concluded that students who apply for mixed schools score on average, slightly better than those who apply for a girl's only schools. But both mixed and girl's schools perform on average 4 – 5 % better than those who are applying for a boy's only school.

If you are a parent of a boy, who is seeking one of those sought after grammar school places, then you have an interesting dilemma, do you apply for a Boys School or Mixed? 

We are going to be keeping an eye on these trends throughout 2011, so come back and see if our conclusions change over time.