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.

DD knows at least one person who missed a medicine offer based on moderated AHs. Plus others without offers for medicine/vet med/dentistry who were planning to have another go next year but don't have at least BB in relevant AHs again through moderation.

That's an eye opener for me clerk. I only know people who have been told there is no point in applying without having met 5th year requirements first time. (medicine applications are very much the exception round our way)

If you have all the school qualifications first time but don’t get an offer then you can apply again after leaving school - is that what you mean Clerk? That’s what Dd is doing; she has 5As at higher, 2As and a B at AH but her UCAT score is on the low side so she is retaking it next month & reapplying in October

Dinnafashyersel it was the S6 AH/H requirements they missed. They already had 5As at H in S5 and had made it thru the UKCAT/interview hurdles. The others who didn't get offers planned to apply again next year and they too had 5As at higher in S5 but their S6 results might be too low for next year. DDs school has lots of applicants for medicine etc but a fair number have two goes

There is something very very wrong with a system moderating AH results downwards for students with 5 As at Higher. Honestly shocked if this has happened and not been questioned before results were issued. Stats suggest A at Higher is a very strong predictor of success at AH.

(I actually changed what I originally said in pp in case I had implied this was a possibility)

Emummy your DD should have a good chance next year with those grades. Some of DDs year without offers have less than BB in AHs so think its game over.

My niece has 5 As and 1 B at Higher but didn't get into medicine. She was predicted AAB for AHs but got ABB and is now panicking that it won't be enough again. Poor thing.

I know of someone whose conditional offer for medicine at Dundee was BBB; a lot depends on UCAT and interview performance. Is she planning to apply for next year and resist her UCAT?

Waiting for today's announcement by John Swinney . My son has had all 3 of his higher results downgraded from the school's estimated grades. School are happy to appeal if necessary but last Tuesday was such a low day for my son when if he'd received the teachers estimated grades we would have been celebrating. Currently he can't get into Uni as none of his grades meet the requirements but he could walk straight into the course he wants if he'd got the grades the teacher predicted. We've still got 6th year to fix things but this has seriously affected the hopes and dreams of his generation. Your grades shouldn't be affected by your postcode, it's difficult enough for children from low income areas without being punished for it.
Soul destroying by the SQA which was backed by the Scottish Government ..... they've let down our children.

Listening to the news just now there seemed to be a heavy hint it is going to be CAGs...

I actually think that would be ok. OK - so this years exam results will be massively over-generous but so what. Maybe little Jonny who was going to get 3s and got 6s will be so thrilled with that he will aim higher, get a better job, teach his kids the value of education and one of them will do something amazing for the world. It sure beats little Jonny becoming a sad drop out who drifts around, forever marked by his poor GCSEs. On a society level, awarding more generous grades is not a disaster and may do a lot of good.

Sorry to be thick or if this was discussed before, but what are CAGs?

It's Centre Assessed Grades (I looked it up yesterday). It's an English term I think.

I imagine that means whatever the teacher put forward as the grade 🤞

The grades should be fair, not generous, imo. Otherwise the results won't be taken seriously by either universities or employers. They actually need to mean something.

CAGs=Centre Assessed Grades

Of course this is another potential hornets' nest if some centres have been demonstrably more generous than others. There was talk that some pupils had actually been assessed upwards by the moderation process because of this. Obvs that cannot / should not be unwound but opens a question about whether it should be done more widely in the context of a decision to make the overall system more generous.

Teachers have obviously overestimated. That means that the students who would have done well in the exams are now left with downgraded exam results.

Thank you Lizzie! I googled, it came up with some sort of graduate certificate!

And what about next year, if the exams don't go ahead again? Teachers shouldn't be encouraged to over-estimate.

I'm not saying that what's happened is fair, but just accepting all teacher predictions isn't fair either.

Receiving lower grades because of your catchment areas is wrong on so many levels

More I would agree but "fair" is very far from clear in this context. My 17 and 19 year old can give you any number of variations of grey areas.
(not hard since "it's not fair" is the mantra of all teens).

High risk that no teen will ever view the system as objective again due to the manifest unfairness in the original proposal and the willingness to bend only in the face of extreme political pressure. (Teachers and academics had already flagged issues and made suggestions for improvements. March - July was plenty time to have taken a far more individual approach. The SQA even had an army of unused markers on tap to moderate / peer review across centres)

SQA have basically said we believe teachers in better off areas but teachers from deprived areas can't be trusted

Well, what would have been fairer would have been to actually assess evidence for the grades submitted or at the very least do some checking on anomalies and/or general cross checking to ensure that, in general, the grades given were appropriate. Unfortunately that horse has bolted.

Whilst there could have been massive overestimating, my view is that aside from a few pockets, in the main it would be those who were on a border that got estimated up rather than down by teachers e.g. someone sitting around the 50% mark would be put down as a C rather than a D. Multiply that across the board, remove the amount of DC who would have had some kind of issue on the day and you pretty much hit the numbers that were higher than expected.

I simply don't believe that every teacher deliberately over-graded all their pupils.

I don't believe there was any justification for increasing awards from those recommended. Disappointed pupils should have then been able to challenge if they felt they had been deliberately or accidentally down graded by a teacher and have any evidence cross checked, perhaps even taking evidence from other teachers in the school who could attest in general to the work ethic and capability in other subjects.

All downgrades are being withdrawn!

Teachers estimates will be used.

Extra uni places will be made too.