Can you do an AH without the equivalent H?

[ttlshiwwya]

Thinking in particular about Advanced Higher English if you didn't do Higher English .. and have a good A at national 5 English and likely (based on prelims) to have AB in 2 essay based social science subjects at Higher.

Hmmm. It's a big jump from the Higher and different schools will have different requirements.

Why didn't they take English in S5?

I've seen people make the jump from Nat 5 to AH, with 5th year in between, but they have to be very committed.

I did but then i went back to college after a break of more than a decade. I would have prefered to do Higher first and then Advanced Higher.

Ds did this for Physics. It was hard work but he did it.

He didn't take H English as he "couldn't be arsed with the poetry and plays". He is now wishing he had. Comments on commitment needed are v. useful. He's not very hard working but might be willing to work harder on this one. He hasn't asked at his school yet (options meeting isn't to later in the month). In any case this is his plan B as plan A is to leave at the end of S5.

I have known of someone to successfully complete AH maths without having Higher. Her physics teacher recommended she approach the department.

I would say his attitude towards the subject will need to change dramatically if he has any chance at all.

Why does he want to study it now? Why not pick up Higher in S6?

There would be no 'mights' about it, he would need to work extremely hard.

Why not Higher?

Higher is a possibility but he'd prefer 3AH to keep English uni options open just in case. 3AH and 1H would be too much (for him - he has lots of other interests - sports, his mates, girls)

3AHs is an awful lot to take on for someone who lacks motivation and is considering leaving. The two options don't really seem to match.

As an English teacher I have never seen this happen and would not recommend it. Many pupils with A passes at Higher drop it after Prelims due to the level of self directed study and need to have a flair for analytical work - very different from Social Subjects essays.

Your DC has no way of knowing if he'd even has coped with complexity if language involved at Higher far less AH. His remarks suggest he might struggle to find the enthusiasm to seek out material for his dissertation and commit to the required "reading around the text " AH looks for. AH English is a great qualification for those with a passion for literature or flair for language.

Also it doesn't dovetail with Higher so if he started AH and realised it wasn't for him dropping down to Higher probably won't be an option. His school may just refuse - he has a progression route within the subject available to him. Is it a case of him hating it less than others rather than a burning desire to return to English? Check SQA website for details of the course look at Understanding Standards to see realistically what he'd need to be capable of. Get him to look with you.

Echoing lidlfix. We have a large number of students with 5 As at Higher who drop out of AH English as the level of genuine passion and talent required just swamps them. It can't be crammed or learned really at that level.

His whole angle seems unusual.

Thanks for the info. Sounds as if AH English would not be a good idea. He seems to have come to a similar conclusion via tsr and facebook.

My DD got her 5 As at Higher level and found the jump to AH quite tough, she started off doing 4 AHs but quickly dropped to 3 and a crash Nat 5 language. Ended the year with ABB (Music, Modern Studies and an MFL) and a B at her Nat 5. It was certainly expected that the AH students do a lot of self-generated work, they didn't cover her teachers if they were off so they spent a lot of time in classes without a teacher. She was slightly disappointed in her results, but they were still respectable. I think taking a crash AH would be very dependant on the school being very well organised, as well as the pupil being ultra-motivated.

I've never heard of this happening.

I'd imagine that missing a whole level would be a major disadvantage.

It certainly would be completely unworkable in my subject area.

dotdotmustdash - in what subjects have you seen pupils jumping from Nat 5 to AH?

I find that very surprising.

Since CfE Advanced Highers have only been running for 2 years and Nat 5 for 4 (full implementation) I can't imagine this has happened very often?

If his teachers have any sense that he missed higher English for the reasons you gave I'd be astounded if they allowed it. I'm amazed to be honest that he got away with. It sitting higher English! Most schools don't allow it.

I'll clarify that I haven't seen a Nat 5 to AH jump in one year, but I have seen an Int2-AH in Graph Comm done in 6th year, and a Credit SG biology-AH Biology. Not seen it done as recently as the last couple of years, but just before that.

Also seen several pupils sit Higher Music in 4th year and AH iin 6th year, skipping the Nat 5 completely. I believe this is standard in the specialist music units.

Thanks everyone. In the end he's decided to start 3AHs and H English in May and will revisit when he gets results in August. As I said this is his plan B as he's applied to uni this year so will leave in S5 if he gets the grades. The H English is just to keep the possibility of a teaching post-grad in Scotland open for the future (STEM not English).

Late to the thread but is the Scottish government determined to make the exam system as complicated as possible?

I sat Ordinary Grades, Higher Grades and Certificate of 6th Year studies. I didn't sit O grade English as the school said it was a waste of time for pupils who would definitely pass it at Higher. I got an A at Higher and an A at CSYS. If AH is anything like the old CSYS there was no way it could have been done without a love of and understanding of literature.

When my son was sitting exams there were I recall 3 different versions of what would have been the old Ordinary grade- we pretty much left it to the school- from memory they only put pupils through Intermediate 1or 2 , not Standard.

And they've now changed it all again?

The H English is just to keep the possibility of a teaching post-grad in Scotland open for the future (STEM not English)

Maybe it's less important if he is thinking of a STEM career but I wouldn't even consider trainee applications who did not have Higher English.