Exam diet 2021.

[wingingitwithgin]

So we were told no National 5s or Highers last term.
My child has been continually assessed and tested week after week. Prelims in school before Christmas and online after Christmas.

Online learning better than 2020 but not great. No live lessons. Lots and lots of new material given but not taught.
Today announced exams to go ahead start of May as planned. Prelims disregarded as some done online so all prelims even school sat ones won't count.
Exam in May will determine grade. If pupil is self isolating /COVID they will use other evidence.

My child is burnt out by the switching of goalposts. Another month doing new material, no study leave then exams like normal (only the poor teachers marking them)

Ok this would seem fair if all schools doing this but their friends at 2 different high schools say they are just continuing with mini class tests like autumn term. Madness the difference in approach.

What are your schools doing?

@celtiethree yes, Glasgow Clyde is on the list, DS3 wants to do Fashion which is why the places numbers are so small but GC has a good course, unfortunately not commutable from where we live so an extra year of expense. He never chooses the straightforward option!

Well great news in our house today, DD who has been scored at a band 7 in Nat 5 biology (a D in old money and a fail) has pulled it out of the bag in her latest round of testing and has scored 54% and teacher says she'll be awarded a C.

I am so proud of her and this is such a huge achievement for her, she's worked her socks off this last couple of months and this is just as much a huge deal for us as it would be if she'd scored straight A grades.

Ah that's great @RaspberryCoulis - need a wee reward for that!

We had similar with DS2 who badly failed Maths Nat 5 (in actual exam days) and took a break and resat it after some tutoring from DS1 and a more directed class at school with DC who had also previously failed. Hope was that he'd scrape a C but that was a pretty big hope and DS1 wasn't even that hopeful. However on the day he managed to pull a B (still actual exam) and was obviously chuffed - more proud of that than many of his better grades. In primary school he was a mathamagician by his teacher so we aren't completely sure what happened in high school but i guess the latent ability was there, it just needed pulled out and dusted off

We are still not sure who is the most surprised at that result!

@RaspberryCoulis @ElephantOfRisk well done to both your dc on putting the work in and getting their grades on the day!

Met my niece last night, S5, and she is elated with her H PE B, H Modern Studies B, H English C and NAT5 maths B. She also had mostly fail target grades but exceeded the grades she wanted, and last years NAT5 grades, after putting a lot of work in between Christmas and Easter.

Huge A for effort for them all!

That's fab Wings.

I often use my DS2 as an example. He was always a bright kid but really lost his way and his confidence and self esteem in mid High School - didn't want to go to Uni (he said) he really did but just didn't think he was good enough. Got a mid range group of Nat5s, ranging from one A to a complete fail and one he dropped. However he switched up at some point during S5, salvaged a bit then, was persuading to apply to Uni on the basis that he could always decide not to go but would be difficult to suddenly decide to go. Got 1 conditional offer (and the one he wanted) and 4 rejections, but then had focus, got what he needed to do during 6th year and he's just finished 2nd year at Uni and doing really well. Living away with his girlfriend and managing life fine.

That said, University is not for everyone and there are many other successful routes into all sorts of futures, the key is to get these wee boosts that thrust them on to the next steps whatever they are :)

Now that assessments are coming to an end, does anyone feel their child performed better than if the normal exam diet had taken place?
My daughter who struggles with anxiety feels very lucky that marks from different papers were taken into consideration. She is now starting to worry about next years Highers and is hoping they will be cancelled!!

I think that is probably true for some pupils/at some schools ,but the problem is it devalues the exams,and it will make the next exams they sit more difficult.

The problem is schools are doing different things.

At ours its really just the same as usual, unseen papers, exam conditions ,one shot

At the school my friend's kids are at they get multiple goes, each one marked and pointers given ,until an acceptable result is produced

And Tutors 'helping'

And as for the local private school ...

That's not fair .

I do think poorer kids are most affected

Total shambles

I guess achieving 5As at Higher level in 2020/ 2021 is not quite the same as in previous years🤔

Last year the same. And it could be argued that last year's exam results are even less valid as they really were cobbled together on teacher opinion with nothing to back that up - not the teachers' fault. But they closed schools in March, didn't go back, and there were lots of kids who for whatever reason hadn't done prelims, or had done very badly in prelims.

DS got 5 As in last year's Highers and much as I know he's a bright lad, I don't think he'd have got such good marks in a full exam situation.

DS achieved 5As at Higher in 2019. He now feels that his achievement has been devalued as more and more students are ‘achieving’ straight As.

Slightly off subject, but I was after some advice as I didn't grow up in the Scottish educational system.

Many people talk of 5 Highers in fifth year as being gold standard. Is it very unusual to take some Highers early in fourth year? My DS is taking two Highers this year (S4) in subjects he's particularly strong at (music and maths). He is also taking 5 Nat 5s in other subjects. He will not have Nat 5s in the two subjects in which he is taking Highers early. He should receive A grades in these Highers (from previous tracking reports).

I know it's just before results day, but was this an ill-advised gamble from his school (state)? He now has to take another five Highers in fifth year in subjects which aren't necessarily his strongest (English!!!!!).

How does uni admissions work with early presentation? Wish I'd thought to ask sooner 😬 ....My DS was flattered that the school suggested early presentation (first ever in school for maths) so felt he couldn't refuse.

PS He's now having to take AH maths in fifth year as he wants to pursue some kind of maths/science degree and wants to keep developing his maths. He will still study some maths in sixth year (mechanic and physics AHS) so hopefully he will retain his maths knowledge.

@littlepixiie

I think that very much depends on the school.
In our school it was sqa papers under exam conditions and no study leave

Having cone back from very poor online provision

So in some ways they say more about the kids abilities this year than previous years

In other schools I hear of not so much ..its just a complete cluster fuck

I think it’s should be an absolute line in the sand that they all do the same ‘exams’
Otherwise it is simply unfair
My DC 2 got 5 A highers last year so I should not be moaning but it just seems very unfair

DS3 was advantage in Englush and Art i think, because he was able to do his art class work partly at home in a better environment, in longer chunks of time than school periods and with me, a fine art graduate, on hand with advice. He got a better grade than he might have but the work was also of a better standard (grades moderated on a county wide basis). In English he had less material to cover and the portfolio was smaller so he could play to his strengths. In the subject that had the strictest assesments (grade based on final exams, no course work) he got a realistic C.
In other words his A grades were a little better than he might have got in another year but they were also "real" as they reflected some quality work and a shift in his work ethic.
I think he might have upped the C to a B in a normal year with better spacing of assesments and exam leave (and having had more exam experience in S4).
A mixed bag.
He is very motivated to achieve in S6 at least, its not going to be a skive as it sometimes is.

MN, my local fb and sqa pages are like parallel universes.

On MN the talk is of over grading and As not be worth the paper they are written on, on my local and the sqa Facebook everyone has been unfairly downgraded.

Will wait and see what the published results are, hopefully they'll be comparable to previous years.

It's hard to understand why anyone would be unfairly downgraded. Not saying it couldn't happen though. We have only given grades we have evidence for. If we have evidence for an A, that's what we put.

Probably more accurate to say perceived as unfairly downgraded vs their "potential" rather than demonstrated attainment.

It's probably because the media (and opposition leaders) are obsessed with the idea that pupils will be downgraded / unfairly treated, so any pupil who doesn't get an A must be a victim of this mysterious 'algorithm' that they keep talking about. Our Higher cohort have done roughly the same or maybe slightly better than in previous years. We've also been verified by the SQA. I'm sure there will be plenty of appeals regardless.

How can it be fair if different things are happening at different schools

I haven't seen any schools doing anything significantly differently. The whole of East Ayrshire is following the same agreed processes meeting SQA requirements and there is cross marking across schools. Marks are taken from final assessments in exam conditions for most cases, except for English where they were given highest grades from two assessment two weeks apart but still in exam conditions. A fair compromise most schools are taking after an extremely challenging year where many pupils have had adapt and learn more independently that previous cohorts.

Work colleagues (Glasgow, so multiple surrounding LAs form those that commute) had similar for their dc.

It will come out in the published results and I don't think we should already be casting aspersions on this cohorts hard earned grades which, unlike last year, were demonstrated in exam like conditions or the processes teachers have worked their socks off to apply robustly, based solely on 2nd hand information of perceived advantages that are always at another school.

I think anyone who gets As this year is in fact showing many more skills than their older peers have had to do in the past.
Dealing with relentless change, sometimes with very little notice, unprecedented stress, mostly online learning so showing self motivation, a huge number of “assessments” without study leave - honestly, future employers should be snapping up young people who sat their Highers this year - they have many more skills relevant to the workplace!

How's everyone's kids getting on? Have they got their results?
Are they as expected, better or worse?
My child gets them tomorrow. Very nervous about being given envelope and know all eyes will be on them to open and declare result. In saying that , I don't think they will have done badly so think just general nerves. I think at least they don't have to wait all summer.

Hope your dc gets the results they are expecting tomorrow @nomorelockdowns 🤞🏼

Oh I have my days mixed up - It's Friday for results not tomorrow!