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?

This fiasco with exam papers being shared is exactly what happens when they try to run exams which are not exams and devolve responsibility to teachers to sort themselves out.

Of course there are going to be leaks and people sharing papers online and this undermines the entire system.

You EITHER run a proper exam schedule with everyone in Scotland doing the same papers at the same time as in a normal year.

OR you let teachers set in-house exams.

This is a mish-mash of both ideas, the teachers are absolutely not at fault here, this is yet another fuck up in a long line of fuck ups from the SQA and the Scottish government.

No criticism of teachers on my part - you and your colleagues @Lidlfix have been totally shafted all the way through this pandemic by the government chopping and changing and their "blended learning, we never said blended learning, everyone back in full time" bollocks and then January - Easter teaching online.

At least my DD is S4 and has another chance at assessment in S5. The poor kids who are in S5 and are going through this mess after missing their Nat 5s last year are the ones who have really been thrown under the bus.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-Scotland-57065862
How are schools supposed to investigate malpractice and what would the penalties be ?

I assume they will follow the SQA Malpractice penalties table at bottom.

Are schools expected to play super sleuth and find out where the paper ds has seen came from? 🤦‍♀️

Which of those would it be under, breach of assessment conditions?
Can you imagine the uproar from the parents of a school failed the student for posting the questions? Though it's probably deserved - would you fail everyone who had shared the original post with another student too? It's a minefield.

I cannot understand why there isn’t more of a public outcry about this? Why are SQA passing the buck, again, to teachers who are already overstretched , and not internet detectives by trade? Why is the SG not getting involved? This is so stressful for all the young people and school staff 😭

I really feel for the kids in this situation, it’s such an emotional rollercoaster. My daughter has come home today completely freaked out as her school is sitting the exams in class time - so in parts and another pupil has said the grading structure is changed significantly for this - from 70% to 85% for an A - I really do worry about the impact on them all .

@mummywithtwokidsplusdog

I cannot understand why there isn’t more of a public outcry about this? Why are SQA passing the buck, again, to teachers who are already overstretched , and not internet detectives by trade? Why is the SG not getting involved? This is so stressful for all the young people and school staff 😭

100% this.

85% for an A! I really hope our local school doesn't change the grading structure like that. I have a DC in S5 and have been asking after each assessment how it went. So far, it seems to have gone "OK" but if they needed 85% for an A then the results wouldn't be so good.

It is all so worrying, but I'm probably far more worried than my DC who seems fairly relaxed about about it all.

85% is a Band 1 A. SQA have published grade boundaries. However, if you have to use less robust evidence you might be not being that exact.

A band 1 is really not worth anything beyond bragging rights. 70% is an A.

Where are the grade boundaries published? Trying to find this! I thought you couldn't get boundaries without exams being sat.

In general, grade boundaries are:
A1 85+
A2 70-84
B3 65-69
B4 60-64
C5 55-59
C6 50-54
D7/course award 40-49

These vary slightly year on year dependent on cohort/accessibility of assessment etc.

Thank you, yes that's around what I thought. So there won't be grade boundaries standardised this year. The poster who had heard it was being raised from her dc's school - I'm assuming this is how the school is interpreting the need to alter marks based on the assessment being "easier" than normal (as done in parts). But I don't think this is approach is happening or will happen everywhere. Unless there is one of the million SQA documents I haven't read!

@Mistressinthetulips yes that sounds right. someone explained further up the thread ( think was @WeAllHaveWings) about the need to adjust things if done over several sittings and to have balance of A/B/C type questions

My daughter is not coping with the pressure of the assessments at all. I'm at my wits end and don't know how to help her for the best. Am giving her lots of options, reminding her that everyone is in the same boat etc etc she's just not hugely academic and is trying so hard she's fit to burst. For those with less able kids how the heck do I help her??

I would break it down into what she needs to do today and tomorrow and try not to focus on the bigger picture - tackle one task at a time. I know that seems obvious but when you feel overwhelmed you often simply don't know where to start.

Would it help if you sat down with her to draw up a study timetable? It might help her feel more control if there is a structure for her to follow.

Thanks both. Overwhelmed is definitely the word. We have tried timetables and last night talked about taking one day at a time i think the whole period of assessments is looming large and its just freaked her out big time. She is one of those quiet kids who are a tad overlooked I'm sure we are far from alone sadly. I hope you and your kids are all doing ok x

Thanks for the information regarding grade boundaries, it’s been extremely helpful in trying to reassure my daughter.

I can only start to imagine how difficult it must be for teachers, not only trying to manage the workload but trying to keep classes full of anxious teens on track, particularly with the constant rumours and social media influences, I’m finding it hard enough at home with just my own children to support!

The kids should have been given exam leave.

I let my Highers revise for other subjects today because our assessment in later and they couldn't concentrate for thinking about upcoming assessments. I just want to cry for them all.

We've tweaked papers and swapped essay Q's so that ours don't exactly match the ones everyone will be sitting.

In some ways, I agree the kids should have been given exam leave. However, my DC told me they are still being taught coursework in one subject!

It's a complete chaos ... My son is S4 ..3 days after the Easter holidays he was hut with 2 hour "prelims" coming off the back of lockdown he didn't do well . So his predicted grades all plummeted .

Two week later we are into a month if final exams with a min of 3 a week ...some days like tomorrow he has 2 in 1 day as well as attending his normal classes

Please tell me how you go from remembering your quotes in English under exam conditions, to folio work.in graphics ,and then to remembering all your facts and structure for history under exam conditions

I don't think Its fair at all

@frasersmummy it's horrendous and survival of the fittest. My DD has 8 this week and is shattered already!

We still have the crazy results fiasco ahead. You know they won't be worth the paper they are written on with just big variables between schools.

My DD losing the plot with 100% exam and her pal at a different school doing end of unit tests as alternative method of assessment. Lucky her.

"We still have the crazy results fiasco ahead. You know they won't be worth the paper they are written on with just big variables between schools"

That comment has really made my heart sink this morning. Every teacher I know (and I know loads) is working their socks off prepping, engaging in understanding standards events, marking, checking, moderating within department, moderating within authority... All aimed at erasing disparity between schools, at least within the same local authority. A more rigorous system than last year in lots of ways. I've never seen my colleagues so exhausted and demoralised and, in all my years of teaching, I've never felt so close to walking away, due to this perspective.
Pupils are working so hard and have adjusted to every change thrown at them this year.
I don't know what else we can do to make this right for our young people, and yet I know that whatever we do won't be enough to erase the doubt about the results. All this effort to be dubbed not "worth the paper they are written on." It's heart-breaking.
We need to change the narrative as I don't want the pupils thinking that all their efforts are for nothing when they have done as much/more than previous cohorts.

Awh Neeko where was that quote from? Makes me want to weep or throw in the towel or both. If that is genuinely the perception, what's the fucking point in the hours we"re putting in? Right now I am a shite wife, shite mum and invisible to the rest of my family and friends. If that's the view why are our pupils white faced, dark circles and dressed to the max? Is it going to be for nothing?

Just to add, every assessment process is flawed.

Assuming that most of the parents on here are of a similar age to me, when you sat SG English only one third of your grade came from the exam. A third was teacher assessed talk and loads of pupils had their talk grade inflated by well-meaning/ill-trained teachers or ones under pressure from management or parents to do so. The other third was a Folio of work where the teacher chose the question for the Reading pieces, no doubt to fit what they had taught and these pieces could be redrafted multiple times. The marker at one point identified the close reading papers that the SQA should check!

Revised Higher had both a Folio and RPR - both of which could have been heavily influenced by a teacher or tutor or could have been marked but a weaker examiner and slipped through the SQA checks.

If you didn't do as expected in the exam, you could appeal and that appeal would be based on Prelim evidence. Remember the Prelim could have been written by the teacher or the teacher could have given you a practice that was remarkably close to the Prelim.

The Revised Higher was more challenging in lots of ways than subsequent Highers, but we don't tell the pupils who sat the newer versions that their results are invalid or less meaningful.

There is no fair assessment system. It's just that this session the disparity is being flagged up for public viewing.