Scottish Exam Results 2020

[Lidlfix]

After hearing DD3's deep sigh and worried voice observe "this time in four weeks..." I feel it's acceptable to begin the 2020 thread.

Over the years Scotsnet regulars and visitors have given great support, advice and even (tales of blissfully unaware snoring DC) light hearted relief to each other over the years.

This year has been particularly fearful for us and our DC and I know how much I have appreciated results threads in previous years. As there are plenty of threads with political discussions and chances for posters to express concerns about what politicians/councils/ schools/ teachers are or aren't doing, can I gently ask that we keep this to topic?

I have DD3 waiting on 1 AH and 2 Highers for a conditional offer and DD4 waiting on 5 Highers - results depending she'd like to apply for Law for the end of S6.

My daughter achieved 5 A's at higher last year and straight A's at N5. She was predicated 3B's for her AH's and SQA awarded her B C D. We simply can't understand it . Positive note is she had an unconditional so not a disaster, but I do think SQA have a lot of explaining to do!

Congratulations and good luck to all your DC who are moving on to their next challenge!

Not so important in my house as DS has an unconditional offer, he has done well but it is a bit odd this year as there doesn’t seem to be much consistency in awards. Best of luck to everyone today.

@Lidlfix glad to hear about the uni place and so hope you get Dd4 sorted. Really feel for the kids who are slow burners as thos process hasn't suited them at all.

Nick Eardley BBC. 1/4 of estimates were downgraded. Twitter link.

link

Going mad here - no email so looks like she didn't sign up for it so have to wait for post which could be any time.

Right - apparently she did sign up for emails but hadn't checked them 2 As and 2Bs - 5th higher she's taking over 2 years anyway as a subject she dropped after S2. Happy with that

Nat 5 results through for DD2; she is over the moon, was expecting some Bs.

ds has his 8 x NAT5 results in.

5As - Physics, Chemistry, English (weakest subject), PE and French
1B - Modern (borderline 72% in prelim, hoped for an A but B not that unexpected)

The big shocker is Maths and Application of Maths. Maths is his strongest subject. Prelim was 93%, consistently high marks in class assessments, last report in Feb says working grade 1 (high A) . He got a B for Maths and a D for Application of Maths which just isn't right....

We are waiting for a call back from the school. He is so disappointed in the Maths it has put a right dampener on everything.

dd (Nat 5) has signed up for the email but wants to wait for the letter in the post which won't arrive for another hour at least. She's also not looked at her phone yet since she go up. Based on her prelims and course work she should do really well but that twitter thread is making me anxious now.

@LizzieMacQueen

I'm hearing there were schools that allowed kids to do work that counted towards additional evidence - has anyone heard the same? Our school was locked on 23 March.

Our school closed on 23rd March. Early on, there was some talk that Nat 5 and Higher students would be able to go in and complete coursework, it was mainly in subjects like Art or Graphics.

But that was knocked on the head pretty swiftly and the students were told not to go in.

No completing of coursework for our school either

I was told to accept nothing else. Which caused real upset to my pupils . My DDs school also said no more. Same local authority . But schools elsewhere were they said they'd accept up to a point. Whether they used it I don't know as I know I had to do my first round of estimates in the first week of lock down.

@BowlerHatPowerHat

How come your kids are getting As Bs etc? The kids on the radio are reading out 1s 2s 3s. They didn't seem to know what they meant.

A 1 or 2 is an A, 3 or 4 B, 5 or 6 C, 7 is a D

Colleague's son didn't get his place and now desperately looking on clearing :(

My neighbour's DD got her results this morning and she's been downgraded from an expected AAAAB to AABBC.

There was no ideal way to do results this year but I don't think a system where predictions by teachers have been overturned by SQA bods who've never met the DC or seen their work is fair. Having said that, you can't have a system where D.C. from previous and future years and disadvantaged.

I think this will particularly have affected DC in poor schools who needed top grades for competitive uni courses or where you have an excellent teacher who gets results above average in a poor school.

I'd certainly be interested to see how many high performing private school entries were downgraded compared to state schools!

@Mistressiggi

As far as I know, grade bandings are not included on the results certificate. Unless something has changed this year?

Ohh I don't know, I was just commenting as another poster said they were reading out 1s and 2s on tv when they got their results. Yes candidates don't normally get their bands do they?
I'm not impressed with what I've heard so far and am very sorry for all disappointed parents/young people.

Schools get the bands, not the candidates as far as I know.

www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/08/04/almost-125000-scottish-school-exam-results-downgraded-but-pass-rates-rise/

About 26% were downgraded but the results overall are higher than usual.

All good here, scraped maths and a mix of As and Bs for the rest except modern studies, she was performing at a high B, hopeful of an A in the final exam had it happened and has a C? She’s happy enough with it though. Nat5 don’t really count for anything so I won’t push her at all

Nat 5 might count for more if they are unable to take exams again and they use those results to guide estimates. Hopefully that scenario doesn't happen but personally if it's a big difference then I'd contact school to make an appeal. Obviously not urgently, but worth asking I think.

God that link has made me so nervous. Waiting for postie as DS didn't sign up- honestly that boy would be dead of he was any more laid back!

DN got A and 2Bs in AHighers. She's appealing B in Chem as she consistently got As throughout the year and it may affect medicine application. Makes no sense.

DD did a bit better than we expected. She doesn't do well in exams so failed a lot of her prelims. She completely failed Higher Computing but got Cs in Higher Art and English and a B for Nat5 Graph Comm, which she repeated after failing last year. Failed Maths with a D but the results she got are enough for the college course she had a conditional offer for so waiting to hear on that right now. I'd like her to try and retake the Maths at some point if possible but she's adamant she wants to go to college rather than stay for S6 so we'll see how that goes since Maths wasn't one of their requirements.

She didn't get any work to do at home for Computing or Maths but was able to finish Art work at home and email photos of it to her teacher and she was able to finish English essays and email them in. I think that probably shows in the results and it was a nightmare trying to get her to finish those as it was.

Puffalicious - it sounds as though the school has given too many high grades compared to their prior historic data and that DN was one of the lower end ranked and was probably moderated down.

I'm not doing the exam results helpline this year but colleague has done it every year and sent a text saying this is without a doubt the busiest year she can remember and there are so many unhappy students and parents calling.

I am so glad DD is not in an exam year yet, DNiece left school last year and my cousin's DD (her youngest) already had an unconditional. No other family members doing exams.