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?

I have a daughter in S4 and she is a total mess over this. Anxious, upset, tears.

What a FUCKING MESS.

Did anyone hear the Prof of education from Edinburgh university on radio at lunchtime?
Very scathing about sqa

It's never an even playing field. There will always be pupils who have suffered illness, bereavement, mental health issues, inconsistency in quality of teaching, teacher absence, and so on. Bright poor children will achieve less than less bright children from more stable backgrounds.

Unfortunately we have to have evidence for the grades we give this year, but there's no maximum quote of As and no prioritising pupils with conditional offers.

Has anyone had information on whether their schools are following the SQA instructions of adjusting grade boundaries for tests that are split up? This is doing the rounds on Twitter. Even more added unfairness!

I think that is saying if the assessment is split over say 2 sessions they need to be careful both sessions need to have A-type marks in them. It is just making sure that if one session only has C-type marks in them and the student gets a very high percentage that isn't taken as the grade alone it needs to be taken as a whole along with the assessment with A-type marks in them.

I must be dim but I still don't understand that explanation

And also I find the SQA website impenetrable - can someone kindly point me in the direction of where it says how each subject has been amended because of Covid ie. Higher Music - you now can be tested on one instrument only rather than two. Higher English - now one Portfolio essay instead of two. I've looked at this information before but can I find it now??!

I need to see the specifics and I am going round in circles on their website!

Main SQA website, select NQ subjects and then select which subject.
On main subject page on the subject title to the right is 3 bars to click on them you select the level, Nat5 or Higher for example then click on evidence gathering.

Higher music if the link works

www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/h-guidance-evidence-music.pdf

Thanks notanexam

I must be dim but I still don't understand that explanation

Essentially it is saying if schools choose to split assessments, it will be an advantage over pupils in schools who are assessed on the full course content in one sitting. They are leveling that out to make it fair. So if your child is being assessed in one sitting and you hear of another school splitting over several sittings, and are concerned this would be easier, you can be assured there are measures in to recognise this difference.

It is also ensuring each schools assessments are of similar difficulty with sufficient A-Type questions which B/C grade pupils will find challenging to answer (this is normal and the SQA do this in the usual exams, they are just ensuring the school does this too)

Thank you withoutwings. That makes a bit more sense

Good article on the total debacle of this year’s ‘exams’. My child (like thousands of others I’m sure) is revising away for ‘prelim-style’ exams that will take place immediately after Easter. About a week or two to mark, get the results back to pupils, and for them to plug the gaps, up their game before a couple of weeks of actual ‘exam/non-exams’. All after a shitty 4 months of patchy online ‘learning’.

www.scotsman.com/education/insight-is-another-exam-crisis-brewing-in-scotland-3196159

@HigherOptions thanks for this link.
It really is mad. I feel so sorry for our kids and the teachers left to try and organise this mess.
Think it is going to be as big a mess as last year but the fall out is going to be left for the schools to try and sort come August.
My child is nat 5 level and that's bad enough but highers level really is playing Russian roulette with their futures.

How are all the S4-S6 pupils getting on back at school and have any schools opted out of the upcoming assessments?

My daughter is sitting Highers and although only just back is crashing and burning already I fear. Her first mini exam is Monday, she has 3 next week. She was so drained after school yesterday, I fear she will take a week or 2 to gather up back to school stamina.

I'm still so angry and sad for them all. The lack of parity across all schools is shocking. She attended school a half day a week pre Easter with the rest of blended learning mostly cancelled over that time. Her friend in a private school was in full time 5 days per week. Said friend also has the option to re sit any assessments that they are not happy with their results.

I don't blame the schools, what I mean is the lack of parity should be well noted by the government and SQA and the many disadvantages that pupils are up against taken fully into consideration. I'm really worried my daughter won't do well at all, she has zero confidence, she's anxious, too tired to study, worried about sitting an exam after a full day at school learning other subjects etc etc etc.

My son is doing 2 highers and 5 Nat 5s. He wants to do exams and seems to be coping ok. HOWEVER, we have had no feedback (reports or parents' evening) to parents since December 2019 so I have to trust his opinion on his own work!!!! The school say they will get in contact if there are concerns (which they haven't).

I think the fairest method to determine results is teacher appraisal. If the cohort grades are substantially uplifted from previous cohorts, the SQA could then ask for pupil evidence.

BIG NEWS: he's just come home to say he is getting a 'tracking report' on Friday which means he's given a number for level/grade; and effort - no written comments though.

Have other schools given proper feedback during the pandemic or is ours just rubbish?

Ds S5 and doing 5 highers. He had 3 assessments yesterday (maths non-calc, English ruae, physics), 1 today (maths calculator) and 3 tomorrow (another maths calc, chemistry and double English for Scottish text and critical essay). Double French for listening and writing on Thursday. Not sure what else is planned, probably a French reading and talking somewhere, they don't have a timetable for this first set.

He is holding out ok so far, no worse than he would have been for prelims and says friends all seem OK too.

Our last tracking report was early December, next one is due 30th April after they have learner conversations after the assessments. Dont know how detailed it will be.

Jesus. 3 English papers, plus tracking reports and learner conversations by the end of April? I'm glad I don't work in that school.

His class are unlikely to get back anything marked for English. Haven't had any English work marked since early November. Never had critical essay or set text work marked or any feedback on them in whole of S5..

@WeAllHaveWings

His class are unlikely to get back anything marked for English. Haven't had any English work marked since early November. Never had critical essay or set text work marked or any feedback on them in whole of S5..

That is utterly appalling.

Horrible to hear all these stories......

I'm getting nervous about my Ds's tracking report coming out tomorrow. As we haven't had one for 16 months, I can't really remember what they signify.

If the bands were allocated a couple of weeks ago, would it be realistic to think my DS could go up a band between beginning of April to mid May? I need to manage my and his expectations as he's got high aspirations and it's his first exam year.

Many thanks

Our situation with English is a very school/teacher specific issue with the additional problem they can't self mark themselves in English. The rest of his classes and assessments are ok, teachers are very communicative, he gets regular feedback on work handed in and he is comfortable where he is sitting/aiming for grade wise so hopefully nothing else on the tracking report will be a surprise.

If the bands were allocated a couple of weeks ago, would it be realistic to think my DS could go up a band between beginning of April to mid May?

If your school is like most and doing main assessments in May covering the whole course content, I would hope if they pulled out the bag a surprise higher mark in an appropriately challenging final assessment this is then evidence of attainment and that would be the grade awarded. He should ask his teacher/pupil support teacher, our school had said the main assessments will be the primary factor deciding grades with previous in school assessments only as a backup for exceptional circumstances.

If these main assessments are the main factor in deciding grades then it is completely contradictory to Nicola Sturgeon stating a couple of weeks that grades will be based on teacher judgement and no requirements to sit prelims or exams.

My DD has 15 upcoming starting on Monday. She was only informed of this day Easter hols started! So very limited time to consolidate and study. Surely many many pupils are similarly disadvantaged and will not perform to their best?

Exams by another name, an absolute shambles.

How's everyone coping? We now have the timetable for assessments and trying to write it all down and make it a bit less overwhelming but my daughter has just done her maths assessments and will likely have bombed them both due to blind panic and pressure to do well in them. I am just dreading seeing how she is going to cope with the next 6 weeks and then the fallout when she fails things she would have passed in normal times. I'm usually one for never contacting the school but i've had to speak to them and let them know how poor her mental health is. As if they don't have enough to deal with, the teachers must be dreading this as much as we are .

ds is doing ok-ish, but probably because he is pretty laid back normally with combination of denial/misplaced confidence. He did mention for the first time last week he was feeling nervous going into the assessments. I am trying to pitch the current assessments as a great opportunity to pinpoint where he needs to revise more (with only 2 weeks to go!), it is completely normal to feel nervous with tests and everyone is in the same boat as you.

He had a maths assessment last week and there were a couple of questions (out of just 9 🙁) he just didn't have a clue how to answer so was digging through the Leckie Higher Maths Coursebook they gave them this year (only book they've given them in 5 years!) to try to identify and revise the topics, but the school has told them on Friday they want the books handed back in Monday 🤦‍♀️ Just doesn't make sense they take the course books away when they are revising!!!!!!

English is a touchy subject. The critical essay questions in the assessment last week gave him a fright as none of them fitted the essays plans he had been revising and he thinks he got a big fat 0.