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Original poster

can anyone advise me on resists?

19 replies

ssd · 29/07/2015 15:54

ds is in S5 just done highers and awaiting results next week, he's already chosen his subjects for S6

what happens if he doesnt get the grades he wants for his highers, do they have to resit them? or is it better to do the crash highers he has chosen? how does it look from a uni point of view, he is looking at a course needing AAAAB, if he doesnt get that at first go, then they want AAAAAA, would they rather have resits or crash highers? also whats the point of advanced highers, I dont see them mentioned in uni requirements anywhere?

thanks, am very confused here and want to help ds if I can and if he will listen

OP posts:
Original poster
ssd · 29/07/2015 16:37

bump

OP posts:
Lidlfix · 29/07/2015 18:05

Depends on uni and course. If it's a highly sought after course at one of the ancients they may look for A's at first sitting. Get him to enquire what a "typical offer" set of grades are for courses and establishments he's interested in rather than looking at prospectuses as there can be a big difference. Good luck for next week - I have Nat 5 and Advanced Highers results for (far too chilled out) DD1 and 2.

StBosco · 29/07/2015 18:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
ssd · 29/07/2015 18:48

thing is he doesnt really know what he wants to do at uni, but Glasgow seem to look for AAAAB in everything he's interested in, but he doesnt think he'll get that and he's wondering if he should resit something to try to get an A in S6 or do a crash in something new and see how that goes

not sure what to advise him

OP posts:
Original poster
ssd · 29/07/2015 18:49

and whats the point of advanced highers?

OP posts:
StBosco · 29/07/2015 20:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
ssd · 29/07/2015 21:21

ok thanks

OP posts:
dotdotdotmustdash · 30/07/2015 11:23

I would suggest that a child should resit any that fall below the A/B level, and fill the rest of their timetable with crash Highers. All going well, they should have a good chance at 5/6 A or B passes by the end of 6th year which should give them some decent opportunities at Uni courses.

My DD is planning to do 4 Advanced Highers and a Nat 5 in 6th year, assuming she has passed her Highers well. I genuinely don't see the need but she wants to be busy.

Original poster
ssd · 30/07/2015 11:28

so will uni's still look favourably on resat highers then? I thought the better uni's wanted A or B in the first sitting?

OP posts:
StillFrankie · 30/07/2015 11:36

Can't tell you what my job is but we deal with this kind of thing a lot.

The way I personally work it is like 'points'.

A = 3 points, B = 2 points, C = 1 point.

So when he gets his grades, work out how many 'points' he already has and how many 'points' he still needs to get.

Unless he needs a particular subject at a particular grade (eg English at B when he got a C in S5) then he shouldn't need to resit any particular subject.

Original poster
ssd · 30/07/2015 11:38

how does he know how many points he still needs to get, where does it say the points when looking at uni courses?

OP posts:
dotdotdotmustdash · 30/07/2015 11:59

You're right that the 'better' Unis, or at least the most competitive courses in those establishments will have their pick of students who achieved AAAAA or AAAAB at first sitting, but if your child didn't achieve that then there's not a lot you can do about it. There are still plenty of options for other courses or other Universities that are perfectly acceptable. I would suggest just aiming to get those by the end of 6th year and there should still be enough points to do what they want to do, even it isn't at Glasgow/Edinburgh/St Andrews.

fuckweasel · 30/07/2015 12:18

They used to say that they were more in line with A-levels and covered the first year of uni. I can't say if there is any truth in that though.

Certainly in my subject, Advanced Higher is harder than the A level (have taught both) and is more in line with undergraduate content.

Original poster
ssd · 30/07/2015 12:55

what subject is that?

OP posts:
StillFrankie · 31/07/2015 19:29

ssd - I said this was my own way of working things and it is accurate.

On the prospectuses etc, if it says for example, you need 4 Bs, that works out, using my system as 8 points needed.

If he got ABBC he would have the points needed, if he got CCCC - obviously not and he would need to get the extra points in S6.

As I said this is my own system that I use with my clients when they come to me for application support, it works perfectly. Its not the UCAS point system though although you could use that too.

The only issue would be if they were specifically asking for a particular subject at a particular grade. he would need to aim to get that grade, otherwise as long as he has the points its fine.

brainwashed · 04/08/2015 14:54

Advanced Highers may be required if applying to an english uni. My DS had conditional offers of AAA to ABB for his advanced highers. He went with the unconditional offer in the end so the pressure was off!!

backwardpossom · 04/08/2015 19:58

Advanced Higher is supposed to be more self-study and the idea is to help the transition between being spoon fed ;) to being dumped at uni and having to do it all yourself.

busjs79 · 05/08/2015 18:37

Other than English and Maths, most subjects will actually advise against re-sitting. In my subject students who re-sit statistically do worse! Generally, they're better off starting from scratch in another subject - unless of course as a pp mentioned, a specific grade in a specific subject is required.

Salmotrutta · 05/08/2015 19:27

Universities in Scotland do actually look at what Advanced Highers pupils are sitting in 6th year (and I'm sure I heard that they will be doing this more and more in future) because they want to see a pupil is spending their time wisely in S6 and yes, Advanced Highers are actually worth more credit points than A levels.

Often a conditional is based on Advanced Higher results too if the Higher grades just miss the mark by a little bit.

I'd also advise crash Higher rather than a re-sit.

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