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.

He was away with the fairies, thought everything was a computer simulation and he could just wander in and out of peoples houses and gardens, he jumped on someones trampoline, the aggravating factor would be he picked up some old garden loppers id left on the doorstep to remind me to take to the tip and took them with him, he frightened the lady whose trampoline he jumped on but i dont think he was threatening, just behaving very oddly. Im hoping they dont count the loppers as a bladed weapon, they are extremely blunt.

They didn't tell us what he was going to be charged with actually, just that they would have to charge him, i didnt think to ask as i was busy calming DS3 down, he was very upset.

Oh @Wbeezer hope you are ok. Hope he's not too bad on a comedown.

Rather frazzled sat up all night just in case and took him to be checked out this morning in A&E as he was still insisting DH & were imposters and we panicked (calledNHS24 first). He is distraught. I have found that his best pal has a very dodgy other friend ( who uses and obviously deals aged 15!) That ive never heard of... All a bit out of the blue, hes been good all lockdown, even keeping his room tidy, he even went pony trekking with me on Friday... However, he can a bit impulsive due to ADHD, usually this goes no further than random haircuts and impulse purchases but Ive been mildly concerned about his pal who I feel is a wee bit sleekit IYKWIM, although i had no evidence of wrongdoing just a mild spidysense tingle.

John Swinney has today via Twitter has stated that he has heard the anger re the results and has been in discussions re the way forward - to ensure everyone gets the grade they deserve. He then says how they achieve this will be set out in Scottish Parliament on Tuesday. I have no idea how they will fix it but it will be interesting to see what they plan.

wbreezer hope your DS is ok

School has now confirmed that they estimated dd as A for both her AHs so will appeal. We are fortunate as she does not need these results - and tbh just the fact that the school thought she would have achieved As is enough for her. Another “poor” school where results have been downgraded.

Sorry for the derail, it just seems at the moment that 2020 is the gift that keeps on giving. Before my Saturday went completely pear shaped i did speak to my friend who used to work at SQA, she is adamant that their methodology is fair and almost had me convinced but i had been drinking Pimms and cant manage to repeat her argument. If appeals help the deserving that will be good but i know someone at a private school who had a prelim score of 27% and was given a B, she won't ask to be remarked and given a fair grade. It wont help Last Minute Larry crammers either, looking at you DS3.

Sorry to hear of your troubles with your DS @wbeezer I hope it works out for the best.

RE SQA, I don't think there is any justification for what was done tbh. Yes if we were only operating at society level then the result is fine. Unfortunately, at the end of all these results are actual pupils, some who are walking about with results they would never have had if they sat the exams, in both directions.

The problem is that the ones most affected here are probably not the ones that are going to be the ones that appeal on their own initiative. DH and both brought up in poverty and we now live near an estate in a similar vein. The kids in there that have received poor results aren't always the ones that needed better ones for uni or college, they are already on the scrap heap and think they are thick and "don't care" though they actually do. Especially for those that have now left, unless teachers put in an appeal on their behalf without them instigating it, nothing is going to be done. Thereby saving the SQA time and money looking at their results. It's actually disgusting.

The estimates submitted by teachers were always going to be higher as no teacher has a crystal ball and can predict the students who are working at an A or B but might flunk on exam day and they are always going to mark borderline students up rather than down. If the SQA chose not to look at individual evidence or properly investigate anomalies or do some random testing or basically anything other than try to get the results to fit into the results that are standard for exams then they are responsible for the shite. Swinney is responsible for allowing it and NS is responsible for allowing the education to be such a shit show in the first place and I'm sure she is now pretending that she knew nothing about what was being done. And even if she didn't then that is negligent too.

I've even seen the argument that they have done the same as Boris, so the same Boris that they say is doing everything wrong, is apparently right this time because they've done the same?

I don't have children of exam age, but I'm pretty disgusted at the way this has been handled, and that it's only being addressed because of a backlash (sound familiar?). It really shouldn't take protests and the threat of a no-confidence vote to do the right thing by young people.

I grew up in a poor area, and my Dad was pointing out today that had I been doing exams under this system, instead of the high grades I achieved pretty much across the board, much higher than was normal for my school, I would have been moderated down because of the area I lived in to fit a statistical average. Its a slap in the face to every student who has worked their ass off to escape the disadvantages of their upbringing (which is what education is supposed to allow), and absolutely 'bakes in' the attainment gap. Some moderation was necessary, but there were much better and fairer ways than this. NS, JS and the SQA should all hang their heads in shame, and it is absolutely beyond belief that the Scottish Government ever tried to defend this.

Found this for ds's unexpected low maths and application of maths grade submitted by the school. Hopefully they'll find there has been an admin error. Posting incase others find helpful.

Changes to estimates
Although we do not anticipate any need for you to amend the original estimates you submitted, we recognise that in some rare and exceptional cases, you may discover that an error has been made by your centre in submitting a candidate’s estimate or entry information. This may be an administrative error, or an academic error identified through your internal appeals process
If you have identified an error, you can email [email protected] for more information and to request a ‘Late Estimate Amendment’ form. You must submit the form to us by 31 August 2020.

I think the main reason results are higher are that there are none of the random incidents that affect exam results - pupils getting thrown by a question they can't do early on, travel stress, hayfever, random lurgies, late night cramming, just randomly not reading the main question properly...

Perhaps this shows that a purely exam based system is inherently unfair to students!

Thats a good point @randomsabreuse, one of my DSs managed to cause one of those and ended up with a U for one of his Nat 5s.

I wonder what they are going to announce tomorrow then? Will it be a massive climb down and CAG awarded? They can't take marks away, so that will result in massive grade inflation won't it. Probably might as well do it this way though. It will ensure no one suffers and in 10 years time it won't matter anyway...

I presume the 9198 grades moderated up from CAG will be left as is. Agree won't matter once they have moved on to the next stage. Employers/colleges/unis will know that 2020 qualifications a bit different and hopefully they will cut 2021/2022 cohorts a bit of slack when comparing.

I find the moderated up grades to be the weirdest thing about this. Barring someone having a malicious teacher, why would they think that they know better? So teacher says this pupil would get a C and sqa say, nah we'll give them a B.

I suspect the moderation up was to protect the more honest schools. Schools who knew their results over the past years and anticipated the moderation might have been tempted to grade this years students up as they knew they would have higher grades to go around.

I imagine some of these high achieving schools might have felt the pressure to keep league places.

If they go with the CAG for all those grades that were moderated down then there will need to be an adjustment to the cap on Scottish students - assuming universities can reverse those that have been rejected for failing to meet grades and have subsequently filled places through clearing.

I can’t see what the announcement will be other than accepting the CAG. Using prelim mark under a no detriment policy would also be unfair to many.

I just hope that England follows whatever Scotland do - assuming it's something sensible like awarding the CAG and the moderated grade together.

Worth pointing out that the situation for England is very different. English students will all have applied to Uni in December on the basis of predicted grades for 18 months worth of A levels and they would have known these predictions.

Most Scottish students apply in December with Higher results already in hand. Predicted grades are not intrinsic to the school process for most.
Relatively few have conditional places and the impact of the cap on student places has been to progressively reduce number of conditional offers - hence lack of Scottish places in clearing.

For the most competitive 5 A courses (medicine and law) the universities are already making extensive use of additional screening via testing, interviews and references such that exams are merely a first hurdle.

The problem for Scottish Unis will not be this year but sifting through applications for 2021 on the basis of this year's Highers. They will have some extra places as EU students are no longer part of "Scottish" cap and have the additional option of adding 6th year requirement filters. It may even be opportune to "relax" the cap a bit in order to ameliorate the Uni's financial issues if there is a significant drop off in non-UK students due to Covid.

It would be really interesting to see the percentage of conditional vs unconditional for Scottish students to Scottish universities. Many of the young people that I know have had a mix of conditional and unconditional. There have certainly been quite a few conditional, from a specific subject in H to AHs to a mandatory nat 5 in maths or English.

Agree celtie. The other side of the equation is the current level of over subscription for "Scottish" places. I know children who were rejected on application despite having grades in hand above the "typical offer" requirement and on track for additional AH.

I know a lot that had conditional offers too. Some of those conditions were pretty stretching as well.

In my house we have 50/50. DS1 was sitting with 4 unconditionals and DS2 with one conditional.

Dinnafashyersel possibly also worth highlighting that the predicted grades that English students are used to are not the same thing as this year's calculated grades. So there's plenty of anxiety that results day in England will also be something of a car crash.

(I'm a Scot now living South of the border and fascinated to see what tomorrow's announcement will be)

Fair number of conditional offers amongst DDs friends too (vet med, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and also other subjects where conditional is for 2nd year entry).

Clerk would be very surprising if someone who was sitting on 5th year results and a conditional acceptance for medicine etc didn't make their conditions though? The case against moderating any of these down is very strong. Do you know people who have missed 6th year conditions for medicine? (the ones we know "performed" as expected)