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.

I agree many people benefited from no exams taking place in the last couple of years. I wonder how those who achieved fantastic results will fair in university exams. Will we see a high dropout rate in the next couple of years?

Do you think you would be saying the same if he got less favourable results and didnt have the chance and the extra time to do better?

Many of the 2021 cohort didnt take their prelims seriously, expecting to have time to study before the actual exam.

Or the 2022 cohort who had little notice of when assessments or exams would be, sitting multiple exams in the same day/week with little breathing space between?

This years N5 cohort have more certainty around exams, and reduced content in many subjects. You could say making them much easier than pre 2020, and much less stressful than 2020/2021.

It is normal to compare, but casting doubt on the exceptional challenges the 2020/2021 cohorts faced is unfair.

Does anyone feel that the 2020, 2021 cohorts were incredibly fortunate?

No! Pretty much no one thinks that. Most people think “poor kids to have to put up with so much disruption and uncertainty at one of the most stressful times in their lives”.

Personally, I don't expect there to be a high drop out rate from Uni. The number of Uni places that are funded by the Scottish Gov have been reduced this year and competition for places is fierce. There are also some deferrals from last year. This has meant that many courses are very oversubscribed and the people that are awarded places may have grades that are in excess of the minimum requirements that are on the Uni websites. There may have been an element of grade inflation last year, but it doesn't mean it is any easier for people to get on to the next stage in the ladder.

I'm not sure there"ll be higher drop out rate. Some courses have high entry qualifications because they are vastly oversubscribed, not because you necessarily need that level of academic ability for the course.

Relative of mine couldn't get the A in maths for popular gaming course at Abertay so went to college for 1 yr HNC, then got into 2nd year at Abertay and is just about to graduate (still without an A in Higher maths)

@pajarito you will be able to appeal if his final grades are less. Whether you're successful will depend on how robust the prelim evidence is (now close is it to the actual exams, and how it's marked) and how the SQA have decided to play the whole appeals thing, which is anyone's guess.
But it is definitely worth a shot if he is disappointed.

As a lecturer, I can say that this year’s 1st years have struggled massively. Everyone has noticed this—across my university. Attendance is terrible and they’re much more withdrawn and anxious about the learning process. Of course we have some years that are better than others, but not to this extreme and not across the entire institution.

@historyrocks ds is in 6th year and studied hard during the last couple of years for his N5 and Higher results and I think they very closely represent his academic ability as they are similar to all the timed past papers he did at home.

He will have developed some good independent studying skills, but the huge missing I think for him are going to be the course/project work they have missed out on especially for his science subjects leaving him with no experience of how to structure or the language to use in these. Also less experience of keeping up with note taking in a f2f classroom as they have been able to just hit pause on recorded lessons when they need to catch up.

There is also the problem they are 17-18 year olds that have been caged up for a year or so and have a lot of catching up to do socially!

Is there anything you would recommend to students this year to avoid any issues you are seeing?

Hi WINGS

I'm no expert in any way, but when my DS was doing his engineering/computing focused Gold Crest Award (independently during lockdown), I bought him this book. It certainly helped with his report layout skills and technical language as his report was highly commended by the assessor.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08HQ8MHC1/ref=ppxyoodtbbsearchasinn_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don’t think 20/21 cohorts were fortunate, some will have inflated grades but they will
forever be known as the cohorts who did better than they otherwise might have (in some cases).

However, I think it’s been pretty hard this year. Many of ds peers in S4 were behind before they even started. This was due to their own lack of engagement and the lack of online teaching resources for the BGE during lockdown.

My son did prelims in early December and a second set of unexpected prelims were carried out in the two weeks before Easter. The kids were told that the first ones didn’t count, the second lot were planned with only 2 weeks notice. It is the average of these marks that are being used for estimate grades. Some kids didn’t take the first lot set seriously because of the school’s (not teachers!) messaging and for some 2 weeks notice just wasn’t enough for the 2nd prelims. This hasn’t provided the safety net that it was supposed to.

For us personally, my son has done well all
year. He missed the second prelims due to covid and is currently having to sit them. Whether it will affect his final marks who knows but his revision plans have gone out the window and he is very stressed at having to sit multiple prelims the week before his exams start.

I don’t disagree with having the second prelims but waiting until the last two weeks of term and apparently having no contingency or consideration for the impact on absentees beggars belief!

Thanks @Aurea, sounds like a just the job, have added to amazon basket 😀. Now just need to get him to read it 🤣.

Will be good to have on standby for the first time he says "I don't know how to....."

@WoodstockJ that sounds awful! Surely the 2nd set of prelims will detract from prep for the actual exams.

We didn't have much choice. We didn't know the SQA would change the system regarding appeals, once they announced the plan schools all needed the kind of assessment evidence that they could submit to them for appeals. It's hard to explain this in a short post but it isn't what we normally do so the chance of another prelim (or similar assessment) was really important. It did reduce teaching time IMO. But you'd be annoyed if pupils at other schools were getting appeals upheld and your dc weren't.

That’s a good point @Mistressiggi

@pajarito

I know it's not going to happen, but is anyone hoping the exams are cancelled again this year? DS has achieved 7As in Nat 5 prelims. However, there is no guarantee he will achieve these grades in the actual exams. Does anyone feel that the 2020, 2021 cohorts were incredibly fortunate?

No one who has a young person who was supposed to sit exams in 2020 or 2021 thinks they were fortunate, I can assure you.

So the sqa changed the goal posts at the final hour? That’s what isn’t clear to me, did the sqa change something or were the school not on top of it.
I have friends all across the country and their kids were all revising at school while we were scrambling to finish courses and do prelims. How have these schools managed to comply with what the sqa need.
It seemed to me that teaching staff have been collecting evidence all year but suddenly someone decided it wasn’t good enough.

The SQA changed something.

Does anyone feel that 2020, 2021 cohorts were incredibly fortunate?

My DD sat her Nat 5's and Highers in 2020 and 2021. At the time we didn't feel fortunate! It was a very stressful time. However, now she and many of her peers feel very lucky as they achieved excellent results without having the stress of sitting final exams!

DD did her AHs in 2020 and doesn't feel fortunate. Her school predicted her a B in maths based on a prelim mark of 63% (they had no other evidence). Friends at her previous school who had 20-25% at prelims also got Bs. She took the subject at uni as an outside course and tutor questioned whether her B was really a C/D and if so she might want to think again. It looks like below A grades in 2020/2021 are considered poorly.

@oatmeal66 ds has said that too sometimes, but think he is looking back with rose tinted glasses and when you actually remind him of how stressful it was - the prelims cancelled at the last minute, the prelims (or first assessment period) rearranged with 2 weeks notice and further assessments dropped on them in exam conditions with 2 days notice, then with no notice doing new assessments for some subjects on the same days as others because teachers found out the one they gave them wasn't suitable as evidence for SQA and had to be completed before the deadline to be marked by multiple teachers at another school, and being told only the mark for the final assessment counted even if you aced a previous one etc etc he quickly changes his mind.

2020 and 2021 cohorts sitting assessments which were really no different from exams had it tough. 2022 have the advantage of certainty around exam dates and reduced content, but the disadvantage of two years of disrupted teaching in the run up. Everyone has had it hard and imo, and I think teachers will agree, the impact of disrupted learning on the exam years will continue for at least a couple of years yet.

Thinking a cohort in any of these years was/is "incredibly lucky" is laughable.

Very well put @WeAllHaveWings and I would add that the outcomes of these disruptions for many are still continuing e.g. kids who did well in earlier assessments but not later ones who therefore ended up being compared to other candidates with possible inflated grades, or at the other end of the spectrum kids with inflated grades who have since found the uni course stressful and hard going.

@pajarito I know what you mean. Ds3 did well in his prelims and a little bit of me hoped the exams might be cancelled, especially as we are going through quite a stressful time at the moment ( ds was diagnosed with autism three weeks ago and physical examination threw up various abnormalities so we are awaiting MRI of brain and spine and neurologist appointment) I would have been happy to go with his prelim marks. I think the two previous cohorts had it hard in a different way and sitting highers or advanced highers as a first exam won’t be easy.

@WoodstockJ Our school also did another set of prelims before Easter that we weren’t expecting and like your son, ds was off with Covid. He is sitting them this week which isn’t ideal as he has a lot going on at the moment but he feels they are going ok. I think I’m more stressed than him. He’s been told that they will be given their predicted/assessed grade during study leave which starts next week.

Was it always normal practice for teachers to give provisional grades before the start of the exam diet. Or is it covid related? Thank you

My older boys certainly weren’t given grades before the exams but it’s 11 and 9 years respectively since they were in S4 and there have been a huge number of changes since then. I didn’t know it was a thing until I read it on here and ds3 confirmed it.

I remember my eldest son being given estimated grades, but they were as far as I know not submitted to the SQQ?