2019 SQA Results

[Groovee]

So the 6th of August is fast approaching... here is the 2019 thread.

Ds was sitting a mixture of highers and Nat5's. So we'll see what this year brings.

I'm just grateful it's not 2 lots like last year as it was a mare.

@margotsdevil

You've been an invaluable help on this thread - thank you.

May I ask what happens ,if say, dissertations for modern studies AH seem to be under marked throughout a class? My DS is lucky enough to have organised a marking review. He is the only one to do this AFAIK although many students are disappointed with their dissertation marks (33% of final exam) . If he has been under marked, as his teacher has suggested, is there any possibility that the whole class will be remarked as a matter of course?

Thanks!!!!

@Aurea you're welcome - I know there's lots of misconceptions even amongst school staff about how the system works now and it's a huge change from where it was 5 years ago.

At Adv H level most (if not all) of the scripts will have been seen by the principal assessor or their deputy at the live marking stage (due to the relatively small numbers) so it's unlikely at this point that they would all be checked - I've certainly never heard of it. With a social subject there are wider tolerances than with science or maths as they are more subjective. It's possible that they've been marked in a batch by someone slightly harsher than the class teacher - but whose marking is still within the allowed tolerance, if that makes sense? I don't know anyone on that team unfortunately to be more certain.

Depends on the school as well, but a lot of schools are less likely to ask for a remark of an Adv H if it's not needed by the pupil for uni entry because of the cost. Apparently only 11% of remark requests resulted in an improved grade last year.

Thank you!

As his overall mark was only one mark off an A grade (out of 140) and his dissertation totalled 5500 words, he's hopeful of a positive outcome, but who knows?

I guess that they may have only been one person reading and marking his dissertation due to time constraints? It would take some time to read and assess it.

For one mark it's worth a shot! The dissertations are sent in just before the exams and then will most likely (again not on that team but 99% sure here) they would be centrally marked rather than electronically so that markets can confer with the senior team. It means a much higher percentage of them are quality assured than with a Nat 5 but i guess that's fair at Adv H level! Fingers crossed for a positive result. I know there are colleagues out from my school (including myself) starting next week for the remarks process so it really won't be long until the results are released.

Thanks again. 😊. I will update this thread with the outcome, come what may.

A final update from us - DS was called down to his Head of Year's office today and told that the SQA had accepted the evidence school had sent in, and awarded him the B he was predicted in the prelim.

We're all very pleased it has been resolved quickly. Still no idea what happened though and no details from SQA.

DS is now going around saying that if his paper hadn't been lost he might have got an A. No pleasing some people.

I am hoping this will bring home how important the prelim are, and that they aren't just an evil plan by school to ruin his Christmas holidays.

Fantastic Mariposa!

Thank god the SQA saw sense. Congrats!

Good news.

Let's hope that Aurea's ds gets the same positive result from his remark

Fab news!

That's great news. Prelims are definitely still really important although some schools seem to disagree

@OtraCosaMariposa that's fab news.

@Bumply so sorry about how things are going for you all. Hoping Ds sorts himself out and you find something soon.

Dd is driving me nuts. Everything is in stress mode and she can't get logged in and is having a meltdown as it just won't accept her user name at all. So she can't tell what her timetable will be or anything.

Woo! Hoo! He's got an upgrade in his remark for Modern Studies Advanced Higher.

He was one mark originally off an A grade. It wasn't required for uni, but will be useful in securing a law training contract in the future. AAA isn't too shabby at Advanced Higher. 😊

I now feel sorry for DCs that were undermarked and not allowed a remark.

That's fab Aurea, I'm really pleased it worked out. DS1is happy where he is and may not have received an offer (or taken one anyway) from Edinburgh, but I'm still really angry that he wasn't allowed to ask for a remark when he was one point shy of his A in maths he needed. This was despite it not being made clear the importance of the prelims and how this would be used and also that he hadn't used the ict for the exam which he was cleared to do.

Really sorry WAX. The goalposts should be the same for everyone.

Lesson learned that life isn't fair...

As I say he is doing fabulous where he is and probably would have chosen Strathclyde regardless as he wanted to stay at home and even Glasgow was a bit more hassle.

Would have helped with his confidence though.

Really glad for your ds though, he's clearly worked hard and deserves to get the benefit of that.

Successful remark here too - Geography Higher. So so pleased. Had to pay but it was worth it 😀

Presume that was private school? I offered to pay but wasn't allowed to and can't apply outwith the school process.

Colleagues from the independent sector tell me that it's entirely parental choice for their remarks / the staff are not involved in the decision.

Nice to hear the success stories but to put in perspective only around 11% change nationally and in some subjects the figure is closer to 1 or 2%. More changes tend to be seen in the "subjective" subjects than maths/science where the answers are much clearer cut. For those who were very close to a grade boundary, they will already have been put through a procedure which looks at how close the pupil is to a boundary, which marker was responsible for their script(s) and what they were estimated to achieve. This should help weed out any anomalies before they get as far as results day!

I'm so sorry I had no idea others weren't allowed to request remarks. It is a private school but local authority schools request them around here too - the daughter of a friend did, although the grade didn't shift.
DS was 2 marks off what he needed. Wouldn't have bothered otherwise. I wish the SQA hadn't changed the appeals system - it's just so wrong now.

We did a remark last year when he was one mark off in a "subjective" subject but no joy. It all seems a bit haphazard - which it should not be when it's their futures at stake. Was genuinely surprised today - but very pleased. He's had a terrible year what with one thing and another so this will be a boost.

My son's upgrade was for AH Modern Studies, so subjective. My feeling is that the whole class may have been undermarked. The school department normally gets good results, but this year only 1 student out of 18 got an A grade (before my son's successful remark). I would expect 4- 5 pupils to get an A grade normally for this number of candidates, no?

Brilliant news Aurea

Ds' (old) state school was always very good about allowing re-marks. I had to sign something saying I was prepared to pay for a re-mark (I think they suggested getting one for Chemistry after his Nat 5s and Physics after the Highers) and even though neither was successful, I was never asked to pay. Maybe because they both went up a mark but not enough to reach the grade boundary (2 marks off).

The Physics teacher was particularly embarrassed as she'd said his assignment was excellent (couldn't fault it) yet he only got 11/20 for it . She was surprised because she's involved in both the marking groups and the curriculum development groups but eventually established that apparently they'd changed their marking criteria after the assignments were handed: the SQA had said that it would only affect a tiny, tiny percentage of those sitting the Higher - and ds was unfortunately one of them

Fortunately a) he was already doing his AH Physics and b) he'd already changed his mind about what he wanted to do (even before he got his results) to PIR, which was not Physics related