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Original poster

Higher Maths Petition

35 replies

howabout · 24/05/2015 07:00

My DD are a bit away from this but so far my experience of Curriculum for Excellence has been really positive. I have been following the news reports about higher maths being unrealistically hard and wondered if anyone knows more about it than me. I could not help feeling that there may have been a connection between the East Renfrewshire pupil interviewed being in shock at the exam questions and the fact that East Renfrewshire schools were highly resistant to rolling out the changes? This is my perception rather than a criticism but I would like to be better informed.

OP posts:

AssembleTheMinions · 24/05/2015 07:18

I don't know about East Ren but my dd sat the exam on Wednesday and said it bore absolutely no resemblance to the exemplar or specimen papers that her school had been working on. She sat the new CfE higher but I know some schools were using the old one.

It's a shambles and tbh, I've been worrying about this since it was introduced as my dd is the first of the cohort to go through this new system. Nat 5 did go very well but unfortunately it's the higher exams that are the ones that decide her future.

Rangirl · 24/05/2015 07:33

Did the East Ren kids not sit the old Higher

Original poster

howabout · 24/05/2015 10:59

Rangirl that was what I had thought but the article I read in the Times yesterday was with a Williamwood pupil in Clarkston.

OP posts:

ssd · 24/05/2015 11:05

do you have a link to that interview?

Annunziata · 24/05/2015 11:12

We were talking about it on the exams thread and everyone agrees it was horrible.

My DD sat it and said it was just impossible.

As for the new curriculum, I think it is a shambles too and I've thought that since it was started. There is nothing positive about it. I am only worried that by the time my baby goes to school it will have fallen apart completely and she will be the guinea pig for a new disaster.

Original poster

howabout · 24/05/2015 11:32

ssd I am failing miserably on my tech skills. The article is on p9 of the main part of The Times on Saturday and is by Jeremy Watson.
Sorry to hear it was indeed that bad and I hope all of your DC at least gave it a good go. When I sat my highers many moons ago I was in one of the schools with over six months of selective strike action. A lot of my friends successfully appealed results so I am hopeful the SQA will be true to their word and adjust results accordingly.

OP posts:

ssd · 24/05/2015 13:12

how do I read it, is it possible to access it if it was from yesterday?

or could you copy and paste it here?

AgentProvocateur · 24/05/2015 13:16

Surely, though, if there were poor marks across the board, the bands lower - ie, an A would become 80-90% instead of 90-100%? Or is that not how it works?

Annunziata · 24/05/2015 14:11

Everyone expects a couple of percent this way or that, but if they have to go down by a lot it just shows up an incompetent SQA.

DD was always going to find it hard but it didn't even follow the same pattern of question.

pinkje · 24/05/2015 22:03

howabout 'When I sat my highers many moons ago I was in one of the schools with over six months of selective strike action. A lot of my friends successfully appealed results'

Is that so? I was always aggrieved that this happened to me too as I am stuck with these results (though since got a good degree at uni so that helps). I had no idea you could appeal results on that basis.

This isn't confined to Scotland though is it - is there not something similar happening with GCSEs at the moment?

Original poster

howabout · 25/05/2015 07:57

Pinkje that was why I thought it was worth mentioning. I got into my chosen university course on the strength of my actual results so did not bother appealing. However post degree I was quite surprised that some employers look back at school results.
Not sure what is happening with GCSE, but I think it is worth bearing in mind that exams do not seem to be static markers for very long under any regime.

OP posts:

Groovee · 27/05/2015 14:32

A number of my friends children sat it last week. One found the new higher ok. But others who sat the old higher said it was nothing like what they were taught.

My friends daughter has had a tutor as she was ill for a while and she found it a nightmare.

cdtaylornats · 28/05/2015 11:33

I was having lunch with a maths teacher from a private school yesterday and made the mistake of mentioning this - 30 minutes of rant later she had moved through furious to incandescent. I'm never going to mention it again. She teaches the top set and fully expected them to do really well, afterwards she reckoned most of them were in shock.

Original poster

howabout · 28/05/2015 13:56

That was why I thought I would ask on here rather than consult my teaching contacts. Always best to know in advance if you are about to light the blue touch paper. . I hope the SQA do get it all sorted out fairly.

OP posts:

Behooven · 28/05/2015 16:37

Let's hope so - given the 'no appeals' rule it's the least that can happen

GloriaPritchett · 28/05/2015 17:29

30 minutes of rant later she had moved through furious to incandescent. I'm never going to mention it again.

You can appeal if you pay for it yourself here.... what a divide that particular rule is creating.

StillFrankie · 29/05/2015 14:27

Higher Maths has always been hard though. I remember mine back in the late 90s, apparently there was an uproar about it then too.

Lidlfix · 29/05/2015 16:03

You can't pay to appeal. You can request a clerical check or pay for a remarking which could result in grade going down. Exceptional circs bereavement/serious illness but no appeal as we knew it previously.

ssd · 29/05/2015 16:19

has anyone heard any updates on this?

Behooven · 29/05/2015 22:12

Not a thing

ssd · 30/05/2015 10:48

maybe its being investigated and will be some news soon?

Behooven · 30/05/2015 12:07

I don't think there will be anything until after the results when it will be too late

ssd · 31/05/2015 10:16

god thats no use is it

dotdotdotmustdash · 31/05/2015 13:02

No chance of a remarking request or clerical check in Fife unless the predicted grade was 2 whole grades away from the resulting grade. The council won't allow parents to pay for the remark. It was reported last year that the majority of successful remarks came from pupils in private schools as the parents were allowed to pay for the service.

My Dd got a surprisingly low grade last year for Nat 5 History (a C), and wasn't allowed a remark or check even though I wanted to pay for it.

Behooven · 31/05/2015 13:46

That's the cast in most LAs dot, not a fair and equal system unfortunately.

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