Scotsnet exams thread 2022

[WeAllHaveWings]

I haven't seen a thread for this years exams yet so thought I'd get the ball rolling (hopefully not too early!). Who has dc sitting exams this year and how are they getting on with their prelims so far?

ds(17) is in S6, he is sitting

Maths AH
Physics AH
Geography H (crash)
PE H (sat 2 years ago at NAT5)

They had their prelims in December which was good as they could relax over Christmas. He has had results back for 3 - will start with the good - Physics AH 70% 😀, then the no so good - Maths AH 45%, PE H 42% 😮.

He is very pleased with Physics, as he didn't expect it. The others he expected but seeing it has still been a shock. Hopefully in a good way and he will get his finger out as he hasn't been applying himself this year due recent first car freedom 🚗 + first girlfriend since he was 14 👫 + out together in said car 💏 + finally started his teenage rebelling phase 🙄.

Did anyone find it was similar in S6 with their teens? I think he is just scunnered this year with school and going through the whole studying and exam process for a 3rd year running. Many of his friends seem to feel the same this year.

@Aurea @WeAllHaveWings thanks for the info! I have only ever seen bands for Oxford/Cambridge admission - my son definitely wants to stay in Scotland but seems quite personally invested in his band regardless!
He had 6 hours of prelim exams yesterday so came home totally exhausted. Seems so intense, especially as he's only been learning the SQA curriculum for 5 months! Though there is lots of cross over from GCSEs it is surprising how much is actually different.
I have no idea what the norm is at his school for S6 but did get a very detailed timeline last week of the whole process which will start in Feb in their citizenship lessons. The only thing I do know is they have to take an 'interest' class which is not an exam course and also some kind of voluntary work.

dd left school about 5 years ago so my info is a bit out of date. However to the best of my recollection she also had to do 4 subjects plus "enrichment" in S6.

The 4 could be a combination of AH/H/Nat5 but the school really liked at least 2 AH.

Anyone's dc applied to do primary teaching at glasgow or strathclyde unis? My dd is so anxious as she has heard nothing and other courses are giving unconditionals already. I think primary teaching takes longer as so many applicants though.

@Mmmmdanone

Anyone's dc applied to do primary teaching at glasgow or strathclyde unis? My dd is so anxious as she has heard nothing and other courses are giving unconditionals already. I think primary teaching takes longer as so many applicants though.

A friends dd applied for primary teaching a couple of years ago and if a remember correctly primary teaching is a long wait for most, and some unis do interviews before offers, so it takes a while to get through them. Have you looked at The Student Room site?

There is a thread started for this year - Primary Education Applicants 2022 - Scotland - Undergraduate thread

And a long one from last year which might give you an idea when applicants heard back last year - Primary Education Applicants Scotland 2021

Thanks for that! I'll have a look.

My DS (17) is in S6 and has 3 conditional offers in. He had a nightmare few years at an awful school and missed all of S4. He then had no school for S5 and did 3 Highers at a tutorial college. He's now at a fabulous school for S6 and doing well but cant compete for Scottish uni places with all the straight A's in S5 applicants. He applied instead for unis in England that work on UCAS points so it looks like he will be going to Northumbria in Newcastle. It's only 1.5 hours on the train from Edinburgh so closer than most of the unis up here but obviously he will need to pay fees. It's a shame he has to leave Scotland but the uni looks fantastic and a good option for him. He also got very fast conditional offers from 2 other UCAS tariff universities in England. Nothing yet from the 2 Scottish ones he applied to.

Hello! Just joining in if that's ok. DD16 is in 5th year, all ready to do her higher prelims when covid struck 🙈, so she's missing them all apart from maths. We're waiting to hear what's going to happen about resits...poor lass, it couldn't have been worse for her - before the pandemic, her school burnt down, they spent months scattered across the region in various venues, so when she got a positive test last week, I could have cried for her.

I've I've an s4 who's just finished his first ever prelims. A bit of a mixed bag I think, some fine, some not so much.

Like @Rach2713 I felt a bit out of my depth, I've no idea how to help him revise. It sounds like some of you get quite involved.

I loved revising, I was weird. I loved drawing up a timetable and colouring it in and making up lists of topics to cover. Ds just thinks that's beyond weird.

Anyway, we'll just have to wait now and see what results come back then we can regroup before the exams.

Younger ds in s3 has announced he and his pals will be setting up a builders business when they leave school at 16. They found a page in the s3 options booklet from school outlining the subjects you need to study to be a builder so he's chosen all of them. One of the 3 will go to college to learn the finer details of being a builder, they haven't decided yet which one.

Typically oldest ds would most like to go to uni but struggles academically, younger ds is mega smart and wants to be a builder, or a builder's mate if he's not the one who goes to college.

DS is in 6th year about to sit prelims in AH English and History and Higher Music tech. He got round the 4 subject rule by offering to help 1st years at homework club, and paired reading.

He got five As in his highers last year. He's enjoying this year and gets on well with his teachers but being with his pals, driving and his job are definitely taking over. Unconditionalitis is setting in after an offer last week from Aberdeen. This is his first choice as the course fits exactly what he wants (English with Creative Writing).

He also knows uni and it's environs pretty well as DH and I first met there and have been regular visitors with him - He's no stranger to the sticky bun shop!

It'll be interesting to see his other offers, if any. He applied to St Andrews, Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow too.

It's an exciting and daunting time for them and us!

I have always wished that course had existed back in the day Scottishplay, that would have been my dream. Nothing to add but envy and best wishes to your DS.

Has anyones dc not heard back from any of their uni applications? Mine is going stir crazy hearing everyone else getting offers but him!

What course is he going for @HGC2? Ds heard back from Glasgow for mechanical engineering, nothing from Edinburgh or Strathclyde.

His gf and her friend have applied for law and neither have heard anything back. friends who have applied for physics or aeronautical eng haven't heard anything either.

Biology, he’s just needing to be patient! (Me too)

So, anyone heard what exactly the SQA changes are going to be?

Hadn't seen any announcement and just found this www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/100512.html

SQA has been closely monitoring the levels of disruption to learning and teaching across the country, including learner and staff absences. Following discussion with partners across the education system, and agreement by the SQA Board of Management, SQA is now moving to ‘Scenario 2’. This means that some revision support will be published for learners during week beginning 7 March to help them with their revision in the final run up to their exams.

SQA will provide revision support for all courses that have an exam. This will be tailored to reflect different types of question papers, any modifications to the question papers that are already in place, and the type and volume of content that is assessed in each question paper.

For maths NAT5, Higher, AH they all say

Modifications made at start of session:
Advance notice of content that will not be assessed

Revision support for exam to be published in March:
Advance notice of further content that will not be assessed

So sounds like they will be giving them reduced content to revise. Would be nice if it was earlier than 7th March, but guess it still gives them 7-8 weeks to focus revision and also means they don't drop topics too early so they don't leave gaps in knowledge for the following year.

For ds's other subjects it looks like it is just Maths that they might give advance notice of content not assessed. AH physics, H Geography, and H PE are just study guides will be provided.

He is ok with that, he hasn't had much disruption this year (unless you count his new girlfriend 🤦‍♀️) and AH Maths is the subject he is finding hardest so a bit of a bonus for him.

www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/100366.html

Anyone got any ideas about what to do with a 5th year boy who is academically capable but doesn't bother his arse?

He's capable of As and Bs, is sitting with Cs and fails.

I've told him he either pulls his socks up and studies or leaves school, I'm not supporting him playing on the x box during 6th year.

However, I am more sympathetic than I let on - I think the pandemic has made him disengage. He responds to a teacher in front of him, online learning did not suit him at all. He's also never sat an exam, they did continual assessments not prelims.

I do wonder whether he'd be better leaving after his dismal highers and doing a college course or just getting a job and having a bit of time to figure out what he wants to do.

His older brother was Mr Self Motivated. I'm lacking in parenting skills for this!

Anyone had similar? Capable kid just under achieving?

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria The thing that made a difference with ds last year in S5 was he knew what he wanted to do when he left school, the grades he needed for that and the related subjects he wanted to do in S6, so it gave him something to aim for. Prior to that it was lots of deep meaningful conversations about getting the grades to keep his options open. Think he preferred revising to another conversation 🤣. Thankfully he is an only child so I only have to do this once!

S6 is not always the right thing, in hindsight I wish I had known about and suggested to him he apply to the Strathclyde Engineering Academy at the local college instead of doing S6. He would then, on passing, have had guaranteed 2nd year entry to a BEng at Uni this year and hopefully move to an integrated MEng at the end of 2nd year (and saved me a fortune by being at uni one year less!).

(also tell him the xbox is out of bounds until he does his studying every night)

Yes, the older one was like yours. So, I'm a bit stumped.

X box is withheld until I see homework completed, phone is removed at night, chores and exercise have to be done and he's producing a realistic study plan. Parents night is coming, which he won't enjoy but is willing to have conversation about where he's going wrong.

He knows he's been chancing his arm. Agree about S6, I got a lot out of mine, but my eldest left with a clutch of great grades and had a year out working before going to unconditional offer.

DS2 will just coast in S6, I really thought he'd step up for his highers. I'd rather he didn't waste the teacher's time, frankly.

Just been to the most ridiculous S6 virtual parents evening ever! First parents evening since early 2020 when he did his NAT5s.

A generous 4 minute slot to talk to the teacher.

Got connected (30 seconds wasted), said hello and quickly joked about technology (20 seconds wasted).

Teacher talked for a couple of mins repeating basically what was on his report card. 20 seconds left - started asking my first question and call was cut dead, no warning, mid sentence bang on 4 minutes!

What a frustrating waste of both mine and teachers time!

Email them Wings, at S6 level the teacher will want to answer your questions.

My DS has just got his higher/advanced prelim results. He's done really well with all 'A' grades.

He is aiming for mostly A1s to support a possible Cambridge application, but he needs to raise his percentage in some subjects by 10-15% to achieve this. Is this realistic at this stage?

@WeAllHaveWings you were asking about AH maths as I know you have concerns. My DS got 71% and he was the highest in the class and the average (out of 20 or so pupils) was around 55% with quite a few failing. It seems the mathematicians in particular haven't been served well by the pandemic.

@Mistressiggi

Email them Wings, at S6 level the teacher will want to answer your questions.

I have been thinking about it but it is difficult to write in black and white without it being misconstrued.

I'm looking to get a feeling why ds has gone from a solid consistent high A1 maths result at NAT5 and Higher to a 44% in his AH prelim. Ds says everyones results were

If you're not sure how to phrase the email, you could (instead of asking why his grade has dropped) say you've noticed it has dropped and you wonder what the best ways are for him to bring it back up again?