2020 Scottish NAT5 Exams support thread

[BrokenWing]

17 weeks to go and ds(15) will be sitting his first exams. I am swinging between relax you have plenty of time and OMG only 17 weeks until the real thing and during that time you have a whole load of portfolios and assessments to complete too!! Do we need to find a tutor for English! How are you going to remember everything for Modern Studies! Do you need more revision guides, folders, notepads and coloured pens! What do you mean you've already started your PE portfolio in class without studying anything for it! ……………..and breathe.

Honestly I know I shouldn't show it to ds and I am not that bad, but sometimes feel it inside!

ds has already sat all, bar one, prelim in the two weeks before the Christmas holidays so we have had a week off everything. His best subjects are maths and science, thinks he did ok in maths, but found physics and chemistry hard. Modern and English (anything that needs writing) doesn't come naturally, he studied hard before the exams (well, crammed 14 hours in at the last minute in the weekend before modern!) so fingers crossed.

French prelim is the 2nd week back so I need to start cajoling him soon to start revision for that during the next week.

Has everyone else completed their prelims and waiting for results or is your Christmas break being overshadowed by frantic studying for prelims in January? 📚

Prelims in January for us, so 2 weeks to go. DD2 is doing Nat 5s & has drawn up a detailed study plan that she has stuck to so far. I start a new job at the time of prelims so stress levels will be high all round. Dd1 has advanced higher prelims plus projects to do & is extremely grumpy about it!
Good luck to your DS OP, hope he gets good prelim results.

Double the stress for you!

Ds studied well and consistently for maths, chemistry and physics, also went to supported study so it wasn't a mad rush at the end and he felt reasonably confident going into them, unlike modern and English so hopefully he'll learn from that for the real thing in April/May.

It has hopefully been a bonus French is after as it gives him some time to focus on it (as he had done very little until now!).

Ds is sitting his S6 Highers. Will be glad to be finished with the stresses. He returns on the 9th and straight into prelims on the 13th.

It does feel odd after 5 years, I won't be worrying over Christmas and the subsequent terms for the final exams.

Has everyone else completed their prelims and waiting for results or is your Christmas break being overshadowed by frantic studying for prelims in January?

Neither. My Christmas break is being overshadowed by trying to get DS to study for his prelims in January.

His Christmas break has been very relaxing, thank you for asking.

We are at number 137 of Excuses Why I can’t Study. Today’s is
“ I left my data booklet at home so I can’t do any Chemistry “.

I left my data booklet at home so I can’t do any Chemistry

Data booklet is available online on the sqa website 😉

Managed to get ds to do 1hr of French writing today...it's a start!

Thank you broken wing.

Of course what I meant was “ I’ve left my data booklet at school “. But when I offered to drive him to school to collect it, he miraculously found it at home. Truly amazing.

But it’s very useful to know it’s online 👍🏻

Of course I’ve removed his phone because otherwise he does nothing. I’ve even wasted a whole pack of paper and ink printing off past papers because he can’t be trusted to do then online and not watch YouTube.

He has the concentration of a midge. He’s only working now because I’m the same room as him.

I keep giving him chances to take some responsibility for his own work and he blows it every time. I really don’t want to have to do this again in 5th year.

Sigh

Very impressed by a hour of French writing. I don’t think DS did that much work the night before his French writing assignment, the one that counts towards the Nat 5.

There is French writing assignment? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Yes. It’s worth 12.5% of the marks , they do it in class under exams conditions and it’s submitted to the SQA. It’s things like a job application letter or writing about school.

It’s here under coursework
www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/47415.html

The school decides when it’s done, they usually spread the assignments for different subjects over the year. So your DD might not have done it yet.

This is my 6th SQA session🙈 and I still remember the first set of prelims with my son- I hadn’t a clue! I think sometimes for our young people this is the first set of formal exams, and it’s not they don’t want to study they don’t know how to or where to start. My ds did very little for his nat5 prelims he did ok but was disappointed as knew he could do better. It was a good wake up call.
From experience I would say they need to familiarise themselves with the sqa course spec thing as that gives clear guidance on what is being looked for. Each subject and level has one.
For each subject go through notes and condense into bullet points key information ( this is best done really as they go along especially at higher).
For maths and science subjects do as many questions/ past papers as you can( but leave some for the real deal in May) make a note of any wrong answers or ones they can’t do and go back to notes to see how to improve.
The essay based ones were doing essay plans and writing one or 2 in full. ( There are some examples on sqa of essays which gained varying marks but takes a bit of clicking around to find).
There are some really good online resources if visual is better eg bbc bite size. There were a few my Dd used for English but I can’t remember now. The bright red study guides are really good too and I got a couple of wee books for English on the poems she did and how to answer the close reading I will try and look them up.
Also having a time table helps with regular breaks and build in down time too. My ds was too lazy to do one but just followed his school one when on study leave which worked quite well.
Ooh and get them to do timed past papers as that can catch them out especially in the essay based exams.
Sorry for the long post not sure if it is helpful as each teen is different.
Good luck to your dc and you mums I feel the stress!🤗to you all.

Ps for the French writing they can almost memorise it just write it out everyday. Both of mine got full marks in the real thing for this part ( ds failed his in the prelim!!! And both have dyslexia.)

MFL seem much harder than I remember, for French prelim he is memorising:

• the job advert reply and lots of example unpredictable bullet points
• a talking presentation
• answers to 35 questions for the oral exam (each 30+ words)

Also practising listening from past papers.

Didn't realise there was another writing assignment too!

With DD3 doing AH plus Highers and DD4 doing 5 Highers this is my 8th and thankfully penultimate SQA session . Due to my productivity in my 20s there has been no exam free years since DD1's Standard Grades (proper retro me)

I like to direct students and parents to the Understanding Standards of SQA website for all subjects as the markers commentaries are invaluable . No revision been happening here but I am assured it started tomorrow.

Second Lidlfix, the SQA understanding standards is a great website for information.

Does anyone know what French dictionary is suitable for using when practising NAT5 past papers? ds doesn't recognise on amazon which one they use in class and there are so many to choose from!

Another French question: NAT5 2018 exam question is:

• What activities take place during the special fun day in August? State any two.

ds answered- treasure hunt and picnic

The marking instructions are attached in pic. What do the underlined parts mean? brackets obviously mean optional, what does the bold/underline mean? It isn't stated or clear anywhere in the marking instructions.

Would he get a mark for just 'treasure hunt' as the question doesn't ask for 'in the morning' or indicate he needs to give that level of detail?

The underlined part is essential for the mark.

Thanks Q1w2e3, thought as much just wanted to make sure as ds wasn't either.

I’m looking for any sort of help, DD1 sat her prelims just before Christmas and apart from English has failed every one. We are hugely disappointed. She appeared to be studying a lot she said she studied loads. Each exam she said either the questions were tricky or she ran out of time etc.

She is is the second highest maths class, she got 27% for her Nat 5 prelim. She said the teacher handed the class back the paper and said well your obviously doing Nat 4 and gave her a Nat 4 paper. She was devastated. She now says she has to sit in a class whilst the teacher teaches Nat 5 to most of the class doing text book work. Surely this isn’t right? She seems to think it’s ok she can do Nat 4 this year, Nat 5 next year and Higher 6th year.

PE she failed by one mark, last parents night her teacher told us she could sit it just now and get an A. She’s since moved class into a very boy dominated class and hates it, says the teacher can’t control the class and they are so behind. Technical drawing is a similar story last year she was doing well, this year new teacher seems to be failing.

Oh forgot she passed Chemistry as we got her a tutor and we’re going to also get her a maths tutor in the run up to the exams.

I am phoning the school tomorrow to ask for a meeting with the DHT.

Very sorry to a hear this. Students can go up 10-20% in the real thing if they continue to work hard. Would this bring her grades up to an acceptable level?

There is a difference between working hard and working smart. She needs to find a way to do both.There are some Nat 5 revision books called 'how to pass....' which are very useful. Perhaps invest in these. Could you start the maths tutor pronto?

Best wishes.

I would get a maths tutor as soon as you can. The jump between nat4 and Nat5 is really tough for some pupils.

Does the school run supported study? Our school does and what they encourage is past paper questions to be brought and the teaching staff can go over it and help the student where they might be dropping marks and how to pick up marks.

Definitely speak to the school. Exam time is such a pressured time for some pupils and results might not be what's expected as the pupil gets too stressed.

A tutor definitely helped my Dd with her maths. Definitely have a meeting; she should have had some previous tests through the year which would show whether she has been doing better and if this result was unusual for her. Learning to revise is a new skill and not everyone gets it so the revision books Aurea suggested sound like a good idea, plus asking teachers for advice on good revision techniques. Good luck.

I got her the How to Pass books she says she’s been using them. I’m going to sit with her and go through how she studies.

If it were just one or two subjects a few marks out fine but it’s been a spectacular fail really.

This is what I don’t understand about the “new” system if she sits Nat 5 maths and fails she gets nothing. In the olden days if you failed your credit maths you still had the back up of the general paper. Nat 4s are seen as rubbish apparently as you don’t even have to sit an exam (I know that’s probably not the case and there’s merit in them too) but the popular view is Nat 4s aren’t that great.

Can you tell it’s been about 25 years since DH had to think about this and it’s stressful when it’s your first!!!

Sweetkitty
Your daughter can be ‘dual presented’ at both N4 and N5 meaning if she sat but failed N5 she could get N4. That system is due to end after this diet though. I’m a teacher and think it’s ridiculous that there’s no fallback as it’s not an exact science predicting whether students will pass or fail at N5. There are so many external factors affecting exam performance. It’s supposed to be an attempt to reduce workload but it actually adds to anxiety amongst teachers as they have to make concrete decisions about borderline students.

My DS did his prelims in December and has experienced a lot of what is discussed here.

His focus is unbelievably poor and so his ability to revise is patchy. He spends time reading but I can tell he is not really taking it in. I need to try to work with him on strategies to learn but he always pushes away offers of help. He annoyingly thinks he doesn't need to study then panics the day or two before and gets himself into a state.

Similar issue with maths. He is capable of passing Nat5 with some study but he opted to go down to Nat4 as he said he wanted to spend more study time on English and Modern studies - fair enough. He also said the same as an earlier poster that he could do Nat5 next year and then had no intention of doing a higher. However he was moved to a Nat4 class and the teacher said he knew too much as he got 100% in tests so they have moved him back to Nat 5 (he thinks! He is not sure) and now may do Nat 5 without having done the prelim.... to be honest my DS is a bit vague. Either he has no clue what is going on or he doesn't want to discuss with me.

I feel a bit lost with it all - I will look at the 'how to pass' books. He is my first as well so am finding it a bit of a minefield - especially as he is a reluctant student

Interesting what your say Loopy about being able to be presented for both 4 and 5