How much revision

[Sparkygal]

Hi to all you parents of Nat 5 and Higher pupils,

How much revision is your child doing NOW in the lead up to the May exams?

I have one child doing 5 Nat 5s this year and my other is doing 2 Nat 5s and 2 Highers. Sadly neither have done particularly great in the prelims and I am telling them that they need to be catching up now and carry on with revision and assignments to the exams so that they are prepared.
I know they are both tired from prelims but it's just so full on I don't feel that they can have a break from revision, as everyone here is saying the momentum is just mounting up!

So looking for help, What is your child's revision timetable?

It really has been full on the last couple of weeks here too. ds(15) has been focussing on Physics, Chemistry, English assignments and French prelim for the last couple of weeks. French talking prelim next week. Physics/Chemistry assignments are now done, PE they only have one portfolio question left to do. English essays are the priority just now. Modern Studies and French Assignments will start in a couple of weeks.

General study hasn't restarted yet due to all the assignments but planning to get him organised this weekend and back into it next week.

This is how his timetable looked on the run up to the prelims. Each session would be 30-40mins. He finishes school early on Thursdays and Fridays.

This is just his rough guide so he can tick off what he has done, he swaps/moves them around depending on how he is feeling, or drops some if there isn't much happening, PE portfolio for example. He also does 10-15 mins of French revision cards each weeknight (he wrote them out from the vocab list school gave him, I hold up and he answers them).

He'll need to review it but will be dropping/replacing PE out of that, and probably 1-2 of the maths (they had covered the entire course in class before the prelims so are now on revision only in classroom x 4 periods a week. As he is fairly strong on maths he can now focus on his weaker subjects at home).

English is at the weekend as I am around and he usually needs a bit of a prod/support for that one a struggles to know where to start. The rest he gets on with mostly himself.

That's really impressive. DD is doing 8 Nat5s and just seems to be muddling through in no particular order. There seem to be lots of assignments and essays at the moment, but I leave her to it.

She's taking half term off and going on holiday. Are others planning to work through half term?

Mine is focused on portfolio stuff just now. This is how her school structures things. It works quite well in giving a bit of a break from dry study and question practice while getting them done and out the way.

Especially at Nat 5 it seemed a long slog from now till exams and mine definitely needed breaks along the way. S5 and S6 don't seem so bad in comparison - or the DC are just more used to it.

Do employers and universities care about Nat5s, if the DC has done Highers subsequently?

My eldest has just finished a vocational degree and employers only asked about uni GPA, modules and relevant work experience. No interest in even Highers.

DD has applied to uni this year and some unis don't consider your national 5s and others only in a limited sense e.g. need at least National 5 english at a B.

Employers may not care about nat5s but be aware that your school may have a min grade they need to proceed to higher. There is a huge jump from nat5 to higher and I have known students who did very little at nat 5 revision wise do well only to really flounder in S5. My Dd probably over studied for nat 5 but it paid off for higher. I think it’s tricky for them as they often don’t know what revision methods work for them at the nat 5 stage.

Not enough is the short answer.

DS is doing 5 Highers and has just had his prelim results. Mostly did well, apart from 55% in an exam he really needs a A or B in to secure a Uni place. Still doesn't appear to have given him teh massive kick up the arse which he needs.

Do employers and universities care about Nat5s, if the DC has done Highers subsequently?

Sometimes yes. A lot of jobs specify minimum standards for Maths and / or English so if either of these are not taken at Higher then Nat 5 becomes important.

Accountancy firms actually care more about Higher results than Degrees - even then they do separate competency tests on top where Nat 5 knowledge, believe it or not, is more relevant than a Maths Degree.

Looking around at general graduate entry schemes I think this may be more widely applicable than most appreciate (eg civil service). If there is an aptitude test filter then school results are often deemed to be a better predictor than Uni because of the level of specialisation within degrees.

No hard and fast rule re Nat 5 results I think. Ds1 has followed a maths/science route and is doing computer science at uni. He last studied English or written type subjects at Nat 5 so I'd imagine employers might be interested in his English results from back then. DS2 has done the opposite so I guess his nat 5 results in maths will be of interest.

Thanks for your replies. Ds worries me as he hasn't done well at all with exams, plenty D's but that's not great!! He will likely leave school this year with only 3 Nat 5s and 2 highers.
He is a smart kid but far too distracted and complacent. He has applied to college for a course he's very interested in and so long as he gets the 2 highers, he will get a place.
I just need him to ramp up the revision to get this.
The only encouraging thing for me is that my colleagues son was similar, left school with a handful of exams, but then did a course he enjoyed, went onto uni and is now in a career he loves.
I have to keep remembering exams are NOT the end of the world if they don't go to plan.