Results Day 2017

[Groovee]

Eek it's only 18 days away!

Dd is convinced Nat5 maths will be another C. She's not too stressed about the highers results.

How's everyone else feeling about it?

Here are the grade boundaries for History Nat 5

Title Max Mark GRADE BOUNDARIES
Upper A A Mark B Mark C Mark D Mark

History 80 67 55 46 38 34

If he got 49% then that's about 39 points which should be a C

Max Mark is 80, Upper A is on or above 67, A is on or above 55, B is on or above 46, C is on or above 38 and D is on or above 34 Just in case it's not clear from above.

@prettybird DS1 got some of his component marks today. Not Maths yet but in his Physics he just scraped a B - right on the boundary. He only got 6 out of 20 for his assignment. Teacher is bemused and there are others in the class that have also done much more poorly than expected. Teacher has already said he will recommend a remark but DS wasn't sure if we still need to do anything. Not sure though as he would need another 13 points to move up a grade - that seems pointless to me but clearly there is something wrong. DS got 19/20 for his Nat 5 assignment and missed and upper A by 1 point. He got an A in the prelim exam and had done nothing at all in terms of study.

Curiously his Engineering and Computing were both exactly on the Grade Boundary too (both As) it all seems a bit weird

He has still to get his scores for Maths and Graph Comm.

I meant he hadn't studied for the Prelim.

I've just signed the form to request the re-mark for Physics, stating that I'm prepared to pay the £27.50 if it's unsuccessful.

Was speaking to the headteacher last night at a Parents' UCAS Meeting: she asked me if ds (who was with me checking I wouldn't embarrass him ) was happy with his results and when I said No and said they were 2 As and 3 Bs, she earned ds' respect by being the first person except for dh and me to pull a face at the results and say she could see why he was disappointed.

He only needs a few extra marks for his A - fingers crossed.

It does sound like there has been some unexpected marking in the assignments for the Physics but for DS that's not the full story. He would need 13 extra marks in his assignment to take him to an A (he did get 19/20 for Nat 5 so I guess it's not impossible?) And obviously with it being a technical subject, the opportunity to pick up marks elsewhere may be limited.

In your DSs case it seems more hopeful since a couple of marks in the assignment would take to the next grade and that seems achievable.
DS is supposed to be able to type his exams but didn't for most of his subjects as they were numbers rather than words orientated. I'm wondering if that may have contributed? But then he wrote the Nats too.

Does he need Physics for what he wants to do? Even if he does, if the B hasn't damaged his confidence, I'd just accept it.

Maybe talk to the school about the writing? You certainly need it sorted before the exams this year. But I'd have thought that the assignment, given it is handed in, would have been mostly typed (says I in ignorance, having never seen ds' assignments).

But there does seem to be a major issue with the marking of the assignments: whether that is because the teachers are misunderstanding the criteria from the SQA or just that some markers are super strict (which then makes the results an unfair lottery), I don't know. But something is amiss at one or both ends

That's what I was saying to DS re the assignments. That it could be that the teachers aren't getting something or that something has changed in the way they are marked or that the marking is inconsistent or just that the marking is harsher than would be expected.

He still doesn't know what he wants to do (probably still engineering or computing) but the more highly rated options seem to be looking for AAAAB Rather than AAABB. Plus a lot of them want Physics/Maths at A/B or B/A and at the moment both Maths and Physics are B. It may all be academic depending on his AHs which are Maths. Physics and Computing. He was a bit tempted by the Actuary stand at the school careers fayre, but they've said they are usually happy to take anyone with a numbers related degree such as Engineering etc. That didn't help him narrow down the choices though.

It would be good if he could move one of his Bs to an A, I'm just a bit taken aback (as is he and the teacher) about how far away he was from an A. Also a bit astounded that so far all 3 subjects are exactly on the Grade boundary ( Engineering 112, Computing 104 and Physics 69). What's the odds on that?

DD back at school today, finally, and discovered she was 1 mark off an A for Higher Chemistry. The school won't put in for a re-mark because she didn't get a lower grade than the one predicted by the school. Like @Wax DS her prelim results were not great. Anyone know if we can bypass the school and go directly to the SQA?

She got AABBB so a good enough set of results but another A could make all the difference for uni. (she's still undecided what to apply for!).

It's a bit frustrating, the teacher just said tough luck! . She actually got 19/20 for the multiple choice!

That is frustrating, but no Post Results Services ( no appeals now) must be accessed through presenting centre. Where I teach the response would be the same (though hopefully less blunt) as she has not significantly underperformed we would say no grounds for remark.

In my case DH has just made the very valid point that as DS is exactly on the boundary of a B then asking for a remark etc might be a very bad idea as he could end up with a C and is extremely unlikely to end up with A. I'll wait until he finds out about Maths and Graph Comm tomorrow and then speak to the school. DS seemed to be saying that Physics teacher was putting in for a remark but he wouldn't do that without us would he? I suppose DS is 17 so probably perfectly entitled to make his own decision without school asking us?

re-mark, not remark - naughty fingers!!! :o

Thanks @Lidl that's really helpful. I guess there's nothing else we can do and not sure I want DD to find out any more marks!

@Wax I need to be careful with work emails asking people to re-sign, not resign 😁.

Wax - that's why ds is not putting in for a re-mark for English even though he's disappointed with his portfolio mark and had been predicted an A - he's too close to the lower boundary.

His prelim results were generally good.

As far as English is concerned, I'm just pleased that he has gained confidence in his skills (he used to worry about close reading but finally "got" it) and his "voice" has developed and is increasingly articulate (couldn't fault his creative essay but never saw his discursive essay but he's an articulate argumentative wee sod - I've asked him to send it to me out of interest), which should stand him in good stead whatever he chooses to study at Uni. So for me, the positive is that he was disappointed in the B, having been strong-armed by his parents into doing English for Higher.

He's already written and following a revision programme for this year's subjects (AH Maths and Physics and crash Higher in Modern Studies) I've had to buy him special spiral bound hard cover notebooks so that he can keep his revision notes together. (Anything that encourages him )

Good luck to him. DS2 is doing Higher Mod this year - his favourite subject.

He's been told to pick a novel for English plus he's doing Romeo and Juliet which he could be happier about...the other option was Hamlet which he thinks he would have enjoyed better.

I love Hamlet in fact it's the only Shakespeare play I really know - in fact I studied it for 3 years in a row. 1st in NZ, then came back to Glasgow and because they were heat through Macbeth, I just continued with Hamlet for my O Grades. Then with the rest of the class for Higher.

Just as well I liked it!

DS1 got 95 in Maths, grade boundary for an A is 96. i think it may well be worth asking for a re-mark but not sure how to go about it yet.

I'll wait until he gets his final score - hopefully tomorrow and then give school a buzz.

DS2 on the other hand has been given the bum's rush from everyone he's asked so far. They've either sent him elsewhere and then the person hasn't been in or there's been a meeting on or one teacher claimed that the school doesn't have the marks .

I've said to him to keep trying and if no joy tomorrow then I'll need to deal with it myself.

If his French score was close to a C it would be worth trying as that would give him 5 A-C passes at Nat 5 and therefore if S5 is a complete disaster, that opens a few more opportunities than 4 would give him. However, the main reason for getting them is so that we know whether he was lucky to scrape the grades he got or if he was comfortably in the band which is psychologically a big difference. There is no point getting a remark for the ones he's completely failed as at best he'd get a D and that's not really worth anything in the minds of anyone who matters. And the rest which are already A-C are fine though obviously it would have been better if they were all As! So in terms of potential cost for the school there is really only one that might fit into the category and at the moment we don't know if that was a scraped D in which case there is no action required.

Wow so many with marks so near the boundaries, I hope everyone manages to get successful remarks! Fingers crossed!!

The saga of DD's advanced higher continues, apparently the school is still trying to find somewhere for her to do it and the schools they are contacting are taking a while to get back. Anyone know a school doing AH history in the Glasgow area!!?😄 She is not not overly keen on going to another school as she thinks she will have missed a lot, but will see what happens as it is what she wants to do at uni.

If she can't get a local school it leaves her doing 2 crash highers this year. Her preferred course at uni has entry requirements of 6xA and she had 4 (and a C which is getting remarked) so with only 2 highers she will just really need to put everything into them.

Oops forgot I had name changed! That was me!

No idea about Glasgow schools sorry :(

Our saga continues. I called school today to ask about a re-mark for Maths and been told that according to their lists he did better than expected to doesn't meet the council criteria. I asked how can anyone who achieved 98% in the Nat 5 suddenly be predicted a low B without it being highlighted to him/us? No answer other than that his prelim result was low. Well of course he didn't study for his prelims did he as they were told they weren't important as they didn't feature in the appeals process......

We seems that according to the council they are. Anyway they then go on to tell me that they have approved a re-mark for his Physics as he was predicted A2 and got B4. Seemed surprised initially when I pointed out that we weren't sure that that was a very smart course of action given that the loss of 1 point would give him a C and he needs 13 to get an A2.

I said that our preference would be to ask for a re-mark on Maths instead given that it's the same cost with less risk and a potential easier to achieve benefit. Although of course we understand that even one extra mark in Maths might be harder to come by that a 1 or 2 in physics.

Upshot is that deputy head says he has to stick by council guidelines but he will speak to HT to see if he has a different view but at the same time said that HT is also a council employee and therefore bound by the same rules.

I told him that I would be making a formal complaint but it wasn't personal. Also asked that surely there needs to be an investigation conducted as to why several students did so poorly in the Physics.

Have to say that, for all Glasgow City Council's faults, one of the good things it does is give its schools especially secondary a lot of autonomy.

But I suppose that's easy for me to say when I'm happy with the school

Swiftanchor - I think that ds' school (South side of Glasgow) is doing AH History, but ds isn't in to ask - and may not even know if none of his friends wanted to do it.

Well they've just phoned and are still saying No so I've just written a formal complaint and emailed it to the council copying the school in. It's absolutely ludicrous tbh. Who in their right mind would rather risk a result going to a C rather than spend the same money on possibly moving a B to an A. Why would a head teacher even hesitate to do that?

Telephone call ended with a bit of a rant (from me) about lots of other things I am unhappy about - felt a bit sorry for the bloke who seemed perfectly nice and agreed with me - but i did tell him that was really irrelevant as it changes nothing... I might have also said that the HT should phone me himself instead of hiding behind him...maybe not my finest hour...

Swift, would your DD actually have to move school, or could another school provide the course materials and she could stay where she is? At my kids' school there are various kids doing self-directed study for AH, because they have clashes etc. It might be worth asking? The course will exist somewhere in Glasgow surely!

I've had a ridiculous week with DS, he got 4As in his Highers which is enough for him to get into the course he wants at Glasgow Uni... then refused to go to school because he had nothing to strive for. I said he could leave once he had his unconditional but no, he wanted to leave now - and just get a part time job for the year. Eh, no.

Finally got him to go in today and change his courses, so he's doing stuff he likes, and a day of work experience in my own (Primary) school. Phew.

WaxOn, sorry you're having such a horrible time with the appeal. I imagine you'll get some action by escalating it, as your argument is logical and they've already agreed to cover the cost of one appeal. Fingers crossed for you.

Thanks Super I think we are at the end of the line though. The chances of anyone actually looking at my complaint before the SQA deadline much less actually acting on it and resolving it are nil. We just have to accept where we are and move on while continuing with our complaint. At the end of the day, the request could have gone in and the mark remained the same so we'd still be in the same position.

Doesn't stop me being furious though. DS and I sought comfort in food and went out for our tea to calm down. Now just relayed the whole story to DH and am fuming again!

I have known schools refuse/ delay the release of component marks to try to avoid the situation you and your DS are in. They stall until after re-mark request deadline and approach likely candidates individually.

I can (grudgingly) see that they are at least sticking to their own policy - even if it seems bonkers. I suppose they can't risk the backlash if they bent the rules on the 2 bands for one case.

Did your other DC get any answers?