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?

@Lidlfix a poster above.
I hear you and completely agree. My heart breaks for my pupils, it really does.
Sending you positive vibes to get through the next few weeks. Fingers crossed, next session will be better.

Glad I missed it at the time then. I am lucky my department is a really tight team and we are holding each other up. But we aren't even at the half way point. This week's additional joy is the 40 somethings getting their AZ first doses feeling really exhausted, fevers, headaches but dragging themselves to school to be there for their classes and to mark

I've a couple of weeks before the 40 something in my LA get theirs. Can't wait.
Have my third moderation event of the week today. We are not even half way either. I can only allow myself to think ahead a couple of days at a time as we are so short-staffed and having to carry that load. To think of the whole thing is overwhelming. Then I look at the faces of my pupils and remind myself why I'm doing this. 😊

It was me who said they won't be worth the paper they are written on and I didn't say that to be derogatory to any teachers or students breaking their backs to complete these exams/assessments without losing the plot!
I know the immense stress you are all under. I'm living with my stressed out daughter!

I meant they will not be respected with disparity of tests between neighbouring schools, sharing of exams papers between students etc.

My daughter hadn't seen the English paper lots of her classmates had done in their bedrooms the night before (found on tiktok /Instagram I suppose)
She's so despondent about it all. She's between a B and possibly a low A but says now lots will have high marks and her paper will look disappointing to the teacher.

@nomorelockdowns I'm really sorry to hear that your daughter feels that way. All I can say is that hopefully her teacher knows her well and will know what she is capable of. We can use other evidence too.

That's what I meant when I said we have to change the narrative. It's not fair to tell pupils who are working so hard that their efforts are not worthwhile.

Another school week done. How is everyone feeling?

End of the first week of main assessments for us. Maths and English sat, ds feeling a little better he has two subjects he no longer needs to revise, especially English which was taking up a lot of his time.

One more weekend/week of revision with Physics, Chemistry and then the last one French on Friday and then we are done here! Starting to feel like we are getting to the end, just need to survive this final sprint!

Hopefully the pressure for most students starts releasing soon in the next week or two as subjects complete.

(sorry to the teachers, a bit longer for you yet and probably getting into an even busier period pulling together those grades!)

DC in S5 seems to be coping OK. Now almost half way through the exam diet with seven of sixteen assessments sat. Seems quite happy with the way everything has gone so far. Might be a different story when the results come out!

My S4 DS seems ok and seems pleased with how things have gone so far. He has been working pretty hard though. Five exams down and nine to go.

Has anyone heard of any tik tok et al leaks with Nat 5s? He's heard nothing but doesn't use social media very much.

He said the SQA non calculator test of higher maths was easier than any past papers he'd done. Has anyone else's DC said this?

Ds sat both his higher maths papers on Tuesday, he thought they were straight forward enough, but maths is his strongest subject, there was only one question he couldn't answer, can't remember which paper he said, but said it was only 2 marks so he's not concerned. His friends found the calculator paper more difficult.

Thanks wings. Higher maths calculator paper is this coming Friday. I'll let you know what he thinks.

Anyone seen the latest school league tables?

Some schools have leapt up the list with teacher assessed grades, whereas others have dropped considerably (my DC's school)

www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-news/7098594/scotland-schools-ranked-best-worst-league-table/

We don't have league tables in Scotland.
The list is based on one very specific criteria - percentage gaining 5 or more highers - so doesn't tell you anything about performance further down the school, support for pupils, fsm etc.
Where I work always does well in these lists, but I am well aware that is not all that is important.
none of my concerns means I don't read the list though!

Sorry if I sound narky but those lists really don't do anyone any good

Comparing ours they seem to have dropped over 100 places between this year and last, but the previous year they had gained over 100 places, so they are back to within 20 of where they usually are which isn't a huge change when you are down in the 200+ arena. They are roughly where I would expect them to be with a very mixed intake and large % from deprived areas.

(Probably a data error for the big jump in the tables released in 2020, previous exam year would have been when they merged two schools).

ds is in sitting his last assessment today Higher French Reading, Listening and Writing. It's been a hard week and think he has just had enough of it now. So glad that will (hopefully) be the end of it all 🥳

School sent a message out to parents this morning. The change of timetable to S6 has been put back another week, they wont be starting until 14th June now, so only 2 weeks of S6 before they finish for the summer hols.

They say this is to allow them to focus on the exercise they now need to do to validate the processes they have followed and validate candidate marks. They will start giving "scores/percentages" to students w/c 7th June to ensure if there are any "actions" required they can be taken (I assume this is for something like marks/papers missing/missing evidence). The extra week will give them time to "provide valuable feedback to anxious candidates about performance and provisional grades and for quality learner conversations" and is "as advised by Education Scotland". Makes sense they get the extra time to get everything right before submitting to SQA and before changing timetables.

How is everyone? Hopefully most of your assessments are done now and everyone is getting a chance to catch their breath!

ds now has extra Physics assessments, unannounced, this week - first multiple choice one yesterday and paper 2 over a couple of periods this week.

At least a couple of pupils had excessively high and unexpected results, so they are sitting papers to check everyone's results are evidenced by more than one paper and ensure there has been no cheating. ds says it is due to a couple of boys who normally get low scores getting 25/25 in their multiple choice papers and he has heard rumours they did have access to the paper before the exams.

They didn't have full course interim assessments after Easter for Physics or Chemistry so don't have another full course assessment to compare with. Hopefully physics is the only one that shows up erroneous results and needs extra evidence!

Wow! That definitely is suspicious. Hopefully other schools are doing due diligence.

My DS has an English Nat 5 exam today and applications in maths on Friday so he's on the last, exhausting leg after 17 exams.

We have heard results no later than 23 June and info on appeals is out imminently.

Hopefully other schools are doing due diligence.

Agree. It is difficult for him and his classmates (that didn't cheat!) arriving in physics yesterday to be told they are sitting another assessment there and then and then further papers during Physics periods in the next couple of days due to erroneous results, but it is correct it is done to ensure the end results are fair.

He is lucky the main Physics assessment was just Thursday last week so his revision is fresh in his head, but still unnerving going into assessments today when you haven't been revising in the days before.

for him and his classmates ( the ones that didn't cheat!)

Last day of exams tomorrow for my child. It’s felt exactly like exams. Proper 3 hour papers in one sitting (well most have had a half hour break between 90 minute papers in same subject).

Only difference is that some kids have had tip-offs via Tik Tok - and you didn’t need to have gone looking for it as the word spread like wildfire. My child knew their subject inside out so it didn’t help. Also there was a paper the other day that had been sat by kids in another school a few days before - a small group of friends got told the content and targeted their revision accordingly (not my child though - he just heard about it on the day) And some kids who had to isolate because of Covid got to sit their paper a week later having full knowledge of the question from helpful friends.

But all I can say is that my child worked their arse off and wants nothing less than As. Recent tracking showed him heading for three and the other two subjects were high Bs. I just hope they will be able to decipher the anomalies but then what if a child had just knuckled down and worked hard to up their grade? Now they will potentially be treated with suspicion which is unfair. And what if a few cheaters mean that my child’s A will be downgraded to a B because of inflated results? That’s my biggest fear.

Hope your dc is feeling relieved, @Lovetomato

Mistress they are most definitely relieved - as am I

A friend of mine has children who attend a private school and assessments were set over a period of 3 weeks. Once marked if a pupil wasn't happy with their results they were able to sit the paper again. As a consequence my friend's son now has 5A's at Higher. In a 'normal' year his results would not have been outstanding. My son by contrast, at a state school will not know his final results until August.
It seems unfair that schools are acting so differently. I guess it is inevitable due to the lack of direction from the SQA. I wonder how many schools, in particular in the private sector are over inflating marks?
Brace yourselves for a high university drop out in the next couple of years!!

My son by contrast, at a state school will not know his final results until August.

The SQA website says schools will discuss results with learners before they are submitted to the SQA at the end of June, so he shouldn't have to wait until August.

I don't know what to say about your friend's school @Importexport I think that is despicable.