Review of prelim exam papers

[WoodstockJ]

A question for any teachers - is there ever a scenario where you wouldn’t go over an N5 exam paper with your class, so that they know where they went wrong/did well?

Off sick. Running out of time to finish the curriculum. Thought I might use the questions again, with them or with another class, and didn't want the solutions getting out there?
I think that's a question for the school really

Thank you. She said that she would when I asked at parents night but when my son asked three weeks ago she seemed surprised that he would find this useful. He found it extremely useful for all his other subjects.
At least some other classes have gone over it, so I don’t think there is any worry about getting out and it was done weeks ago so there aren’t any pupils who still need to do the exam.
It’s very frustrating for him as it is the only piece of marked work that he has had for the course and he can’t use it to improve.
I feel like I would be annoying if I ask why.

It's not something we do in our school as a matter of course. Although we can't use it as a prelim again we can use a paper like that (usually P&N) for internal assessments so we tend not to go over them in such detail for that reason. Your son should get the opportunity to have a learning conversation off the back of the prelim using that data to inform his strengths and targets. Did a particular question type emerge as a problem area for example? I think you would be well within your rights to ask how the prelim is being used to inform his next steps even if there is no plan to go over it in its entirety.

I very rarely go over papers in class. Pupils tend to switch off. They do a self evaluation on it then put it to the side.
I cover the problem questions in class time with starters or time fillers and through homework.

This is also very true. For most kids they've parked that experience and filed it as done. They do tend to switch off.

He did less well (although still quite well) in one of the papers and was told that he should look to improve on that paper but he hasn’t been given his script or any feedback/next steps on what aspects of the paper let him down. He only has the mark. He is quite upset about it and despite several promises she hasn’t given him the feedback. He got the mark two months ago and feels like he is losing the opportunity to do what he needs to do.
Thanks for the advice, I will do as you suggest and ask again.

I would definitely ask in those circumstances. The mark alone is completely useless.

What subject is it? I think going over RUAE in English is of limited value, plus it just turns into a 'why did she get 2 and I only got one for question 7'? type scenario which wastes everyone's time.

For other subjects it may be more valuable.

They might not want to hand the papers back out for review incase they lose them. They might need to keep them safe because of a higher risk of problems around exam time (eg. pupil isolating) and evidence is required for grades.

Ds never saw his higher prelims last year. He thankfully saw his nat5 and noticed his modern studies had been marked but miscounted and he had 73% not 64%, which ended up as his final grade.

ds's school is also behind teaching the curriculum due to a late start and they simply dont have the time to review papers this year.