Nat 5/Highers etc - Anyone getting ready with their S4 - S6 dc?

[weegiemum]

My dd1 is in s4 and about to sit 8 Nat5s. I don't know who is more wound up about it - her or me! (and I'm a teacher!!).

Wondered if there's anyone else out there to hold hands with?

DD is sitting English, Maths, Ghaidlig (Gaelic native speaker), French, History, Art & Design, Physics and Design & Manufacture. First is English on 5th May.

hiding I was in s6 in 1988 as well! My biggest academic achievement ever (including 2 undergrad degrees, a pgce and now doing a masters!) was passing my higher maths in 1987 - I needed it to get into Edinburgh and I got a C band 9!

Dds exams are well spaced out - maths next week, French and Physics I think the next week, then history and then, right at the end Art, Gaelic and D&M 3 days in a row. Luckily the exam is a minor part of both Art and D&M and she's good at Gaelic, she's been speaking it since she was 3!

I guess we're the same age Weegiemum. Have I told you the story already on this thread about how DS1's Higher Mods teacher was my Mods teacher 30 years ago? And I thought he was ancient back then

I'm a lot older than you lot - did my Highers in 1978

Poor ds though - both dh and I got straight As for our "O" grades and I got 6 x A for my Highers, a mix of languages and sciences not sure what dh got No pressure

He's got one A already in the bag: his PE as there is no exam and he knows how he performed for the Performance element.

Actually, I'm very conscious of trying not to pressure him: my mum & dad always said that they were happy with whatever I got, provided if done my best. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to them, I knew my best was really good, so I put a massive amount of pressure on myself

Dh's mum told him off for getting 99% for his Arithmetic exam, on the basis that he shouldn't have got that 1% wrong

I try to restrain myself with ds and ask him if he is happy with whatever result he got (eg with his prelims) and if he's comfortable with what he needs to do next.

His exams are pretty well spaced after tomorrow - big gap to Maths next Thursday and then 2 the following week and then 2 the week after, finishing on 27 May.

And then that weekend he has U17 rugby trials for the SRU's Pathway programme. just as well his exams will have finished

DSs don't have a lot to live up to in our house. :o I scraped 3 highers and 10 O grades (including two in Chemistry!). youngest child of a very poor background, no motivation, teachers strikes and massive unemployment. DH didn't attend school regularly after age 13 - turned up for some exams and passed a few O' grades - similar background to me except he went off the rails when his brother died, hence lack of school attendance. I did some day release at college when I started working - he had gone back into education a few times and now has a couple of degrees and other stuff.

We've done pretty well for ourselves though.

If we'd had support and money we could have both managed to go to Uni.

DSs are bright and have support and better opportunities than we did. Both are perfectly capable of straight A's. i remind them all the time though about working hard for themselves but if it doesn't work out first time, no matter, you just need to find another route. there is no way a child of mine is going to consider themselves a failure for not passing an exam.

I was born in 1978

I have said similar to DD, that I will always be happy with how she does as long as she tries her best. So far she has really put in the time and effort so I really hope it pays off for her.

I think I said earlier in the thread that her granda took suddenly ill and passed away during her prelims so they were a complete disaster. Then she has been quite ill for a few months, rushed to hospital with suspected meningitis then fears over a tumour that all eventually turned out to be severe migraines that were completely out of control until a few months ago she started on daily preventative meds. So she has missed a lot this year and her confidence in her own abilities has really taken a knock.

I just hope she passes enough to be able to do highers next year and have a bit of a fresh start!

Your poor DD Yo and yes, for those planning to stay on, these are just practice exams :)

Your poor dd Yoscience - she's had a lot on her plate. I hope she finds her Higher year not so much easier, but more positive.

My parents would've been devastated if they'd known how much pressure that simple "Just do your best" had put on me . They were always just happy for me whatever I got.

In theory in CfE you can bypass Nat 5s and go straight to Higher. In practice, most schools have continued to present potential Higher candidates for Nat 5s because otherwise their first experience of exams would be the critical Highers.

I know ds is finding the "exam" experience useful and is already talking about what he'd do different for Higher English.

I hope am sure your dd's school will be understanding YoScience and let her select her Highers based on her capability rather than the specific results.

Hi everyone < waves >

DD sat higher English today then went to vote for the first time . She was reasonably happy with the English questions. The one for her novel was easy and the drama one ok too, just slightly different from the ones she had prepared . However her folio wasn't good so so has marks to make up .

She's now working for H biology on Monday - she has three highers next week

Glad everyone's else's kids seemed to find higher and nat5 OK

Weegiemum - can I ask you if you did your undergraduate degree at Glasgow university ?

Thanks all.

That's interesting Prettybird and not really something I had though of in regards to highers.

Dd's school haven't been overly supportive at the start of S4 she was predicted 8 As but it all went pear shaped and she was dropped down to nat 4 in one subject and there was then talk of perhaps waiting to do nat 5s in 5th year which I really wasn't happy with. I feel the school are far more concerned with the results than the pupils best interest at times. So we'll see how it goes, I'm just hoping she can get through all the exams without a migraine as she loses vision, is unable to speak properly and vomits for up to 8hrs so would be completely unable to attend an exam.

I work with students (university) who need a bit of extra support academically, for various reasons, who have often had to take complicated routes to get on a degree course, so I am a real advocate of there being several paths to getting where you want to be! So hopefully DD will realise that any blips now won't be too disastrous!

DD1 thought the English today was 'OK - I guess', and she did 'Ok- I suppose' I asked for out of 10 and she gave it a 7 ...
Yo That's interesting. There is one subject that I thought DD would enjoy but has hated this year. She can't wait to drop it. The teacher wanted her to do Nat 5 next year as she wouldn't get an A this year so 'couldn't do it for Higher'. I was told this at parent's evening in January. And also she was failing Nat5 anyway because she hadn't done some coursework.
I was furious because they are supposed to tell me if she hasn't done something important so I can help with her procrastination and lack of organisation (part of her support plan). I did feel like they were making sure she did Nat5 next year for their result figures more than for her. And IME that department are pretty dire anyway (disorganised, had problems with disrupted lessons in previous years and DD had some homework with a question was so badly written it was guesswork what they were actually asking).
She is back on track to scrape a Nat 5 now but every since DD has been complaining the teacher has favourites and she isn't one and she is mean to her, doesn't help her etc and I thought it was DD being sensitive but then witnessed the teacher being pretty unreasonable to her. (I actually thought 'what a bitch' ) . No wonder DD wants to drop it - and I'm glad she does!

Good luck to all doing geography today. DS one is still snoring this morning!

LOL DS1 - been up since 3 watching the results come in

Good luck with the Geography. As I'm not involved this year I'd be interested to see how it goes for people.

Kr1stina - no I did Geog at Edinburgh.

I just wondered , because I reckon we are the same age and I did geography at Glasgow . I thought you might have been one of my long lost classmates - only about 20 women so we all knew each other. Three went off to do PGCE, though who knows how many have survived .......

I loved my course < pensive sigh>

My Dd is in school again today as the biology teachers ( gotta love em ) are running a last minute revision session .

My DD has been SO LUCKY with her teachers this year - 3/5 are HoD and all are excellent . They are available to see kids before school, in their lunchtimes and run supported study session after school

Dh did Geography at Glasgow - but 8 years before (went there in 79). He also did his PGCE but never taught in anger. Couldn't get a full year probationer job and had just got married not to me so took a secure sales job with a precision machining company.

Ds has already gone off to school. Think he just wants to be with his friends.

3 highers in one week! That sounds very tough.

YoScience - your poor DD. Very best of luck with her exams. I know what you mean about schools giving the impression that they prioritise what looks good for the school over individual pupils' needs sometimes. It gives me the rage. (DD was advised to postpone higher English, which she needed after doing badly in the prelim. Her tutor felt the questions were very tough and marked harshly. She sat her higher English in 5th year and got an A! )

unlucky83 - your post about your DD's school is making me with them on her behalf. DS has a statement of educational - very minor - support needs. His teachers are supposed to check with him at the end of each lesson that he has homework etc correctly written in his planner, but they never do. TBF he doesn't want to be singled out. I emailed his HOY earlier this year about this (and another Q) and she said it was "his responsibility" to ensure he knew blah blah blah.!! A long time ago she said it was impractical to expect his teachers to chase him. He was out of school on the day of a practical exam in March as he had incorrectly written down the time. The school rearranged it but I felt like saying, 'Do you now finally believe that he does need support and isn't just being lazy/rebellious/typical teenager? What's the point in being assessed by the autism team and an ed psyche and me going to meetings and parent evenings if they disregard the advice? Meanwhile they bend over backwards to try to get pupils into Cambridge uni....

Sorry, rant over. We're getting them ticked off and it's sunny.

Sympathies to posters who have DC doing exams until May 31st. Which exam is that?

The 31st is Art for us.

I envy artistic people . I can barely draw at all. Sigh. not the point but couldn't resist

He's reasonably talented but has been put off this year. Poor teaching, a class full of girls and a topic chosen for him based on self portraiture which meant a painfully shy teenage boy with borderline aspergers, social anxiety and very bad skin at the moment, having to sit and look at himself was not the best experience. Hes not doing Higher and from what ive seen of his work, i dont think he is going to do very well in his Nat 5. He technically needs an A in order to crash the Higher in graph comm. He wanted to do graph comm last year at Nat 5 but couldnt get it on the options sheet and was stuck doing geography instead, which he despises. All in all its been great. Not saying anything wrong with girls by the way, just not good it being all girls given his issues and the subject matter.

31st is Art here (very Arty dd, her teacher has said her folio pieces will get her an A), then 1st is Gaelic and 2nd Design and Manufacture, that the practical is the main part of, so already in.

That's tough, so they get no break at all between the last exam and starting 6th year ?

5th year. Its ok, I'm being quite relaxed within the exam leave. Today she's out with her best friend who goes to another school, and tomorrow night babysitting with The Boyfriend. Then has loads of time to do maths.

well done on the relaxation , I'm pretty stressed here

There isn't much of a break and he has his DofE from the Friday to Sunday and then back at School, but then they only have a few weeks before they have nearly 8 weeks off in the summer here so I'm not feeling too sorry for him. Apart form Art which he seems overly worried about (and Computing which I am overly worried about :o ) He is pretty relaxed about the rest after Geography today. Main thing will be reining in any overconfidence. The next 4 are all ones he is planning to do at Higher. He should be in line for A's in the next four however he didn't do well in the prelim for Computing. He reckons most of his class didn't and that he knows where he (and they) went wrong so is now confident - i'm not too sure though. I hope he is right and I'm wrong!