The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) assessed their cohort members (CMs) during the study’s age 10 sweep using the Friendly Maths Test.
Details on this measure and the data collected from the CMs are outlined in the table below.
| Year of data collection: | 1980 |
| Domain: | Mathematics |
| Measures: | Mathematical competence, ranging from early awareness of number operations to expected mathematics ability at 13 years old, including arithmetic, number skills, fractions, measures, algebra, geometry and statistics. |
| CHC: | Gq (Quantitative Knowledge) |
| CLOSER Source: | Explore this sweep in CLOSER Discovery: BCS70 Age 10 Survey (1980) (opens in a new tab) |
| Administrative method: | In schools; pen and paper |
| Procedure: | The test consisted of a total of 72 multiple choice questions covering a full range of mathematical competencies: |
| Basic arithmetic skills (36 items) | |
| Measures (16 items) | |
| Algebra (6 items) | |
| Geometry (10 items) | |
| Statistics (4 items) | |
| Within each of the areas covered, the questions increased in difficulty as the test proceeded. The test was stopped if the child failed six consecutive items. | |
| Duration: 30 minutes | |
| Link to questionnaire: | https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/BCS-1980-Reading-Tests.pdf (opens in new tab) |
| Scoring: | A score of 1 was given for each correct answer over the 72 items. |
| Item-level variable(s): | i4001 - i4072 |
| Total score/derived variable(s): | Explore these variables in CLOSER Discovery: BCS70 Friendly Maths Test (1980) Dataset (opens in a new tab) |
| Age of participants (months): | Mean = 121.88, SD = 2.67, Range = 117 - 139 |
| Descriptives: | Raw score |
| N = 11,633 | |
| Range = 1 - 72 | |
| Mean = 43.95 | |
| SD = 12.32 | |
(click image to enlarge) |
|
| Other sweep and/or cohort: | None |
| Source: | Specifically designed for BCS70 age 10, due to a lack of a fully acceptable mathematics test appropriate for ten-year-olds at the time (see paper in 'Technical resources' below for more information about the test development). |
| Technical resources: | Parsons, S. (2014). Childhood cognition in the 1970 British Cohort Study, CLS Working Paper. London: Centre for Longitudinal Studies. (Link opens in a new tab). |
| Reference examples: | Siegler, R. S., Duncan, G. J., Davis-Kean, P. E., Duckworth, K., Claessens, A., Engel, M., ... & Chen, M. (2012). Early predictors of high school mathematics achievement. Psychological Science, 23(7), 691-697. |
| McKnight, A. (2015). Downward mobility, opportunity hoarding and the 'glass floor'. London: Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. |
Go to:
- Overview of all cognitive measure in BCS70
- Overview of childhood cognitive measures across all studies
This page is part of CLOSER’s ‘A guide to the cognitive measures in five British birth cohort studies’.