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Original poster

Who has teens starting exams this week?

113 replies

tilliebob · 26/04/2015 19:46

DS1 is now on study leave and has his first two N5's this week - Graph Comm on Thursday and History on Friday. He's finally settled down to some study although he got A's for both those prelims so the stress hasn't started in earnest yet. Anyone else?

OP posts:
haggisaggis · 19/05/2015 12:52

ds reasonably happy with the maths - fingers crossed he's done OK. Only 2 to go now..

dotdotdotmustdash · 19/05/2015 16:49

Higher Maths for DS tomorrow. The maths revision has started this afternoon.

Original poster
tilliebob · 19/05/2015 19:23

My DS1 isn't doing maths this year. Despite never getting less than A for English, he's only just finished the N4 course Confused. Hope everyone found the maths today okay.

OP posts:
weasleybreeder · 19/05/2015 19:57

DS thought maths was "fine". Geography and French still to go this week and another 2 next week but we are both breathing a sigh of relief that he is half way there and the end is in sight.

AssembleTheMinions · 20/05/2015 15:51

Can someone else please tell me Higher Maths was hard. Dd was far from mpressed with it. A couple of S6's cried when they got out the exam Sad Poor wee scones

OatTeaTea · 20/05/2015 17:33

Feedback here was that the Maths Higher was hard and nothing like the Exemplar paper.

Behooven · 20/05/2015 17:43

Same here, paper 1 was fine but some questions on paper 2 were very difficult, in fact even the Dux struggled with them

Annunziata · 20/05/2015 18:13

DD said it was impossible :( My poor girl, she's devastated. She really did work so hard.

OatTeaTea · 20/05/2015 18:19

Mine is trying to be positive and has already been talking about lowered grade boundaries.

All may not be lost Annunziata.

AssembleTheMinions · 20/05/2015 18:34

That's what we are hoping for too. My dd really studied hard for this one, she was pretty upset after the first one but found the second one easier (apart from the crocodile question that she says no one got!)

dotdotdotmustdash · 20/05/2015 23:03

There are tons of very angry and upset Higher maths pupils on the Studentroom forum. They also found the exam the examplars and sample papers to be poor preparation for the exam they had today, which was the Old Higher. There seems to be a growing call for complaints to the SQA as many of seem to feel that they've just lost their chances to take medicine and other courses.

My son found it incredibly difficult and doubts he will pass but luckily it isn't one of his conditions for his Uni course.

OatTeaTea · 20/05/2015 23:06

Here it was CfE / new Higher.

dotdotdotmustdash · 20/05/2015 23:40

I believe there are going to be complaints about the New Higher too as they were of a similar level, with lots of crossover.

OatTeaTea · 20/05/2015 23:49

I believe that there were questions on a crocodile hunting a zebra and a toad and frog down a well.Smile

dotdotdotmustdash · 20/05/2015 23:59

The whole exam is shown on this thread..www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2700809&page=39 and and there is also a link there to a video where someone has worked out the answers.

SquirrelledAway · 21/05/2015 08:51

DS said he found the new CFE Maths Higher paper 1 very tough, much harder than the SQA model and specimen papers, and there more 8 or 10 mark questions and fewer 2 or 3 mark questions.

Lots of people in his school (and one or two others I know at different schools) that are really good at maths (always 95% and above) found it really hard, so I can see complaints going in and grade boundaries being adjusted too.

Behooven · 22/05/2015 10:31

There was a big discussion and phone in on Radio Scotland this morning, did anyone hear it?
Loads of oarents and children are complaining about it and agreeing that yes, it should be difficult but the reality was that some of the questions in paper 2 were actually impossible because they had not been covered in the teaching, prelims or past papers. So unfair! My DS strength is maths, he has been straight A all way through high school and this happens Sad

rogueantimatter · 22/05/2015 10:49

The SQA statement seemed hopeful for lowering the grade boundaries.

OatTeaTea · 22/05/2015 10:57

Things like the exam / question layout (fewer short questions hence more marks on the longer A/B type questions) are not rocket science.

There were already issues with accuracy of SQA materials in the run up to these exams. The SQA don't seem to have the capability to self critique.

Behooven · 22/05/2015 11:14

I wonder what the maths teachers think of this, I'd imagine they will be raging.

rogueantimatter · 22/05/2015 11:19

Two years ago higher maths was criticised as very difficult. Same the previous year - I don't know about other years. In both the years I've mentioned the grade boundaries were slightly lowered.

Annunziata · 22/05/2015 11:44

I met DD's maths teacher in Asda funnily enough, and he said it was a really unfair paper.

We're just hoping for a pass. My poor girl, I went to pick her up and I could tell by her face it was bad. Then she started crying about fecking crocodiles.

Although DD1's Standard Grade maths had a question in it nobody could do, I remember that. And her Higher was very difficult as well- 2009 I think that was.

OatTeaTea · 22/05/2015 11:44

I think it's fine to have an exam with difficult questions (at the end is best after a bit of a build up.)

It should be recognisably an exam you have prepared for though.

I've read the Student Room thread and was interested in the view of a student in Scotland who had also been educated in US. He/she contrasts the piecemeal nature of notes/input from teachers here to the text books used across schools in the US.

There has been a gulf between what different departments have been able to provide in our High School. One subject was so poorly organised I think all chance of a good pass was lost with the chaos of the coursework element.

rogueantimatter · 22/05/2015 11:57

Yes! Whatever happened to text books and notes from teachers?

If the children miss classes they never get a handout from the teachers! I thought teachers were supposed to do lesson plans? Not teacher bashing but it puzzles me.

Annunziata · 22/05/2015 12:00

Textbooks are against the message of the new curriculum apparently Hmm

When I think about my older kids' work, it's a dreadful change. They had a textbook, notes jotter (copied from the board, old fashioned teacher!) and a working jotter.

DD2 has a million and one worksheets, and that's supposedly better?!