nat 5 Chemistry- Good Luck!

[deepinthewoods]

To all S4s sitting their Nat 5 Chemistry today- Good luck!!

[HairyPotter]

DD1 is sitting it now. Have everything crossed for her, this is a really important one for her. After today that's 5 down, 2 to go!

Just the long wait for the results to go after that.

Good luck to yours as well.

[deepinthewoods]

Thanks hairy, this is my son's 4th, three to go after this. My son wants to study chemistry at University, so an importtant exam too. They will be in the exam atm. I have to have a quick trip to Tesco, then, pick him up at 11.
Fingers crossed it all goes weel- I am more nervous than DS over these exams!!

[HairyPotter]

Yep, dd1 wants to chemisty at Uni as well. Her long term goal is either a forensic scientist or a microbiologist.

I had planned a leisurely morning with my sky+ and my crochet before picking her up at 11 but dd2 has been throwing up since 5.30am and is still going

What does your ds have left to sit? Dd has biology on Friday and physics on Thursday and she is done!

[deepinthewoods]

Just back- DS fininhsed the exam with a hour to go- said it was really easy, not sure if that's a good sign or not.

He now has French on wednesday, Physics next Thursday then RMPS the following week.

[SquirrelledAway]

deep glad I saw your post ^, DS also finished with an hour to go and said it was really straightforward. I was worrying that he had missed something (like half the questions). Important one for him too, as he's looking at chemistry at uni.

Just physics a week on Thursday and geography a week after that to go now (phew).

[deepinthewoods]

Interesting that your son also finished early squirrel, hopefully that means they found it easy.
My son though the exam was very straightforward, but it is his favourite subject.
Strange we all seem to have budding chemists on this thread!!!

[PiggyPlumPie]

DD said it was hard but not excessively so. She is also leaning towards forensic science or marine biology.

It's her hardest week this week, with French, Drama and Biology still to go then Computer Science a week on Friday as her final exam.

[PurpleFrog]

Dd said it was OK but not as straightforward as the specimen papers she did.

3 down, 3 to go. Now I am quite glad her school is only letting them do 6!

[SquirrelledAway]

Purple our (state) school only lets them do 6 as well, and even then they struggled to get through the last topic in chemistry on time.

[PiggyPlumPie]

DD did eight subjects and it was a real struggle completing the syllabus in all subjects. Some topics had to be finished by themselves! They pretty much went straight from prelim type exams to the final exams.

DS will only be doing six subjects but will not choose them until the end of S3 giving them one year to complete. Noy sure that is going to be any easier for him.

It's a worry that's for sure!

[deepinthewoods]

My son did 7 subjects, with an extra Nat 5 in Scottish Studies which was project based only.

When did your children have their prelims? One year is far too short to do the Nat 5 imo. far better to choose the subjects at the end of second year.

[PurpleFrog]

Dd's Prelims were in January. A number of subjects also had a 'top-up Prelim' after the Easter holidays on the work covered since January.

I thought that a lot of the schools doing 8 started the Nat 5 syllabus early?

[deepinthewoods]

purple- I think most of the schools didn't have Nat 5 subject choices until the end of S3- so couldn't start the work earlier.

[SquirrelledAway]

I understood that schools doing 8 Nat 5s will be running them over two years, finishing the broad general education phase at the end of S2 instead of the end of S3. This is what our school told us when they had to defend the local authority's decision to stick to the CfE's intended implementation and do 6 Nat 5s instead of 7 or 8 - they didn't believe that it was feasible to do 8 subjects in one year, and to do 8 subjects over two years would just be going back to old Standards system.

We had prelims in January, no top up prelims after Easter as there was only one week between coming back after the break and exams starting. It was just final revision and making sure everyone was prepped and ready to go.

Seems that DS's classes had covered all the topics for geography, maths, physics and English within S4 OK, but it was a rush on the final topic for chemistry. PE was assessed on a mixture of performance and portfolio - no written exam, so that one was done and dusted before Easter.

[PiggyPlumPie]

DD chose her subjects at the end of S2 and had prelims after Easter. These were sat at the same time as finishing the syllabus and sitting end of unit tests.

It was really stressful.

[prettybird]

Positive vibes being sent to everyone's kids sitting exams.

Hairypotter - I hope your dd does/did well, I know how hard she'd been working for it. I hope dd3 has recovered too.

Ds starts his S3 timetable on 9 June. He's at one of the schools that lets the kids choose their subjects during S2 and will be doing 8 subjects next year. In fact, his English and Maths teachers currently have the class doing Nat 5 assessments although it is the top set - I think informally.

[SquirrelledAway]

prettybird I think that would be the only practical way to fit 8 Nat 5s comfortably into the timetable. Just hope that the Uni's will recognize the fact that local authorities are implementing the CfE in different ways, although how much that will affect Highers I don't know.

[deepinthewoods]

Well that's French done and dusted- two more to go- the end is in sight!!

[prettybird]

Yes - they claim that in theory those that are definitely going to sit Highers don't need to do the Nat 5s. So how would Universities issue their conditional acceptances, given that in Scotland going to Uni from S5 is an option?

[PiggyPlumPie]

We had French today but still have three to go!

I think I am more stressed than DD...

[deepinthewoods]

I know the feeling piggy- I have bought myself some herbal Kalms!!

[HairyPotter]

Thanks Pretty Yes she felt it went well. Finished with half an hour to spare and is fairly confident. Biology on Friday, then Physics on Thursday and that's her done.

Dd2 is feeling better, she did give it to me and dh though. Am crossing everything dd1 doesn't end up with it before or durning her exams