2018 Scottish Exam Support Thread

[Groovee]

Practicals have already started for many, folios are being worked on... here's the 2028 thread to get us through.

I have Dd sitting 3 highers and D's sitting 6 Nat 5's. Oh the stress.

Dd still hasn't started but has been working and doing studying as they are dead at work. Business on Friday.

Reminder to self - since dd gets extra time due to dyslexia / dyscalculia don’t make the assumption it’s just added onto the end and check the start times too.. Nat 5 biology starts for her at 12.45 not 1300 and only realised 10 mins ago!
This on top of issue during Nat 5 English yesterday when the laptop the scribe was using had issues saving during Paper 1 and she lost her last 5 answers which she had to redo but ran out of time....such fun.

Oh dear haggis not good on both counts! DSs type their exams (well most of them) but the don't get extra time, however it still doesn't mean the exams are on at exactly the same time. Mostly they have been, but a few have started a little earlier or later.

The rest so far extra time is at the end. Yesterday’s fiasco was a nightmare. Her memory’s not great anyway and the stress of the paper 1 cock up affected her during paper 2. She should really get an A for English but think that’s off the table now.

I would make sure that's noted at the time of submission haggis because you will have no chance of appealing (I know it's not an appeal as such) after the results come out. DSs prelim score was affected as he was in a room and the fire alarm went off. All those in the hall were told to ignore and carry on (disturbing enough) but he was outside (with invigilator) for nearly half an hour and obviously lost his train of thought. This wasn't recorded and he did particularly poorly (worse than predicted) in the prelim. His actual result wasn't quite as it should have been either but he didn't meet the criteria for a remark based on his poor prelim score. It might have made no difference, but school just trotted out that pupils doing exams didn't have to leave but ignored the fact that he did!

Oh Haggis so unfair for your Dd x

Have to say that so far the school are being quite proactive. They”ll put a letter in stating the issues. In some ways I am not too worried as her prelim mark was good so I don’t see any issue with her doing the higher no matter what happens.

that's good and at least it's a subject that she is wanting to continue so as you say, the Nat5 mark becomes a bit less important.

Hi haggis It would be worth your time to write a formal letter to the school about the issues that your dad had in her English Nat5. A similar situation happened to my DD who had extra time for English and the exam turned into a 5 hour marathon due to problems with computers. We were advised by the school to write and say what problems she had and how we thought it affected her.

DS2 is sitting his last ever school exam as we speak; AH History. He's been practising answering essay questions for weeks but only just got round to getting his teacher to look at them a couple of days ago ( After I asked him about it) so she only replied to his email this morning!
He really sees himself as someone who gets on with things by himself without involving others and this often leads him to struggle with things that would be easily fixed with a bit of timely intervention...very frustrating!

I will not be backing away entirely when he starts uni, especially as he had chosen to study the subject he finds most challenging rather than the one he has the most ability in, I will be prompting him to ask tutors for help and feedback regularly.

wigglybeezer I'm not going to be backing off entirely either. Dd1 has a bit of a tendency to leave things to the last minute, and then gets stressed out and stops eating (she was on the verge of an ED 3 years ago so I do keep an eye out). Its hard because she produces her best art in last minute panic, but for her mental health she cant be left to do that.

Luckily she's staying at home next year, really its best for her.

@wigglybeezer that was me with DS1 last year. Happily he aced AH History which set him up for college nicely.

DD says H History was "okay" but given her mental state over the past few months I'm just glad she's managing to turn up and sit the exams. Only H Chemistry to go on Monday and then she's coming into school with me my own personal put your daughter off teaching plan

DD's last was AH History yesterday as well - and the report after was "ok" so no idea what that really means.

Feels slightly weird that that's it... Guess prom will be the big "finish" as lots of her friends still have exams to go.

Now she just needs to find a job for the summer since she's applied for halls and next year's going to be v financially challenging cause DH starting teacher training!

Well last one out the way today for DD3. Not heard how it went but I suspect a fall back Nat 4 if the prelim was anything to go by. Treat dinner for just us pair is Lidl family tradition.

I'll soon be disappearing into the Matrix of emarking for my sins ...

Very envious of all households who have finished exams. We still have one to go for DD2 and two for DD1 next week. Hey ho, they’ll get there in the end. 😊
Wishing all a good, happy summer and well deserved exam results in August.

Ds is in school this morning for a computing study session. There's a chemistry one this afternoon but he's gone all odd about it and is going to see Deadpool 2 instead. He hates chemistry, hates the teacher and is determined to be a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. Nothing I can do but his dad is going to be fuming!

Just found out DS2 has won the English prize, so we get to round-off the school year with our first ( and probably last, DS3 is too cool to pursue prizes) school prize giving,. Very chuffed for the boy who was in a special group of one below the bottom reading group at primary for a worryingly long time.

That's fantastic
And gives me some hope
Congratulations to your DC

congratulations to your ds2, wigglybeezer :)

Well done, wigglyDS! That’s fantastic!

Congratulations WigglyDS how inspirational.

Joining in, albeit a bit late. DD is sitting 8 Nat 5s. She had a full 10 days after her first exam (maths) before having the next 4 back to back this week. Still got chemistry on Monday plus written papers for art+design and finally for hospitality/ practical cookery on 1 June! It's been a bit of a long slog, but she says that the exams so far have gone really well. Poor thing is traight into her silver Duke of Edinburgh practice expedition straight after the exams and we are both doing the Edinburgh Moonwalk on 9th of June! She has managed to join me for most of the training walks so she should be OK. Good luck to everyone and hoping that our DCs all get the results they are hoping for.

Dad did higher Business Management and found it ok. She nicked up one question.

Ds sits chemistry on a Monday and that's him finished. Dad still has 2 to go.

Thanks everyone, DS2 is a tortoise not a hare! He's really opened my eyes to learning differences and my new motto is " you haven't failed till you stop trying", which I am annoying my other sons with.
He does need to work on his life skills though!

I hope everyones child who is doing Higher and Nat5 chemistry today finds it OK.