English mum in Scotland! - highers

[clpsmum]

Hi can anyone help. My son is chowing his highers at the money for next year. Are highers the equivalent of A levels? He's chosen three highers and two Nat 5's does that seem enough??

@ididntevennotice

There is only 'Mathematics' at higher

Yes. Same at AHigher. There is no Pure/ Applied AHighers Babdoc. I've also never heard of anyone doing 5 AHighers. There's actually not enough time on the timetable never mind the fact it would be far, far too difficult to manage. Even the top schools in the country don't offer this.

In Advanced Higher, aswell as ‘Mathematics ‘ there is ‘Mathematics of Mechanics’.

There is actually a Higher in Applications of Maths now, it's fairly new.

Just realised i misread and you were talking about advanced Highers, ignore my post.

My DD did 5 Highers in S5 and then 3 AHs and a special interested Nat 5 in S6.

She got AAAAA at Highers and ABB at AH which gave her way more UCAS points than any English pupil who got 3 A Levels.

Bright kids can do very well in Scottish schools, the opportunities are available and the curriculum allows for a breadth of choices.

I think five highers and five advanced highers are possible by the end of sixth year, but of course not easy. The school has to be flexible.

My son is doing/aiming for similar.

My DS took two highers early in S4 and he is taking one advanced higher early in S5, alongside four other highers. He will then take four advanced highers in S6. He 'should' end up with six highers and five advanced highers by the end of sixth year but this is partly due to the 'gift' of applications of maths which for good mathematicians isn't too tricky. Also, a proportion of the maths, physics and mechanics course overlaps.

I think he's a little crazy to (over)commit but he cannot be convinced otherwise.

Five AHs in 6th is pretty impossible as the timetable is designed to have study periods and the subjects require the extra time. My DD started doing 4 in S6 but had to get special permission to do them - one of them she had to do on her own as the subjects clashed on the timetable.

She ended up dropping one (Drama) as she had an opportunity to study in China and thought Nat 5 Mandarin would be more useful.

My DS2 did 3 AHs and got 3As but it was a very big workload (essay based subjects so a good prep for uni).
I think it would be possible to do 5AH but only if you were presented early for at least one as occasionally happens (usually for Maths or Music ). I remember reading a thread on the Student Room about AHs and there were one or two students who reported that an exceptional student at their school had done 4 or more in S6 but they were complete outliers.

Xpost with Aurea about sitting AHs early

That's quite right, Wbzeer. The two highers he did early were indeed maths and music.

@CharityShopChic

Agree, Snoop. 3 Adv Highers is almost unheard of at our school and they regularly send candidates to Oxbridge and into medicine etc.

The typical combination in S6 (for those intending University) is 2 Advanced Highers, and either one Higher and a Nat 5, or 2 Nat 5s, or awards in things like Volunteering. The school also offers S6 pupils the chance to work towards a football referee badge qualification which is very popular.

Advanced Highers aren’t easier or harder than A levels, and both qualifications now have the same UCAS tariffs for top grades (A* at A level and A at AH are both 56 points). Until a few years ago, AHs were higher tariff than A levels.

I’d also be wary of pupils at every school thinking that 2 AH levels will be enough to get you to Oxbridge - if your school offers taking more than 2 AHs then you will be expected to do 3 to demonstrate that you can cope with the workload. If your school only offers 2 AHs then that is taken into account.

DS did 3 AHs, was predicted and achieved A grades and was rejected by Cambridge as they decided that there wasn’t enough breadth in the subjects (maths and mathematics of mechanics were 2 of them).

My only concern with 3 highers would be that almost all future courses/jobs look for maths and English so you're then only left with one subject of "choice".

I did 5 in 5th year and then started 6th year doing 3 AH and 1 crash H. I quickly decided I couldn't be arsed and fancied a rest before uni and changed by October to 1 AH and 2 crash H. In hindsight I should have been smarter with subject choice to get the overlap ie maths and physics AH rather than maths, history and chemistry (which became just maths!).

Most unis we were looking at were asking for 4 highers and for the harder to get into courses there was an expectation they were sat in S5

Advanced Highers aren’t easier or harder than A levels, and both qualifications now have the same UCAS tariffs for top grades (A at A level and A at AH are both 56 points)*

The difference is that you only need around 70% for an A at AH, but over 80% at A Level to get the 56 points. The AH is more difficult.

I don't think he is planning on uni tbh and if he is it definitely won't be oxbridge!!

He's going to do 4 highers and two extra nat 5 this year and see how that goes before deciding on next year. Thanks everyone you've all been a great help

And the A* grade doesn't exist for Advanced Higher

@Wbeezer

My DS2 did 3 AHs and got 3As but it was a very big workload (essay based subjects so a good prep for uni). I think it would be possible to do 5AH but only if you were presented early for at least one as occasionally happens (usually for Maths or Music ). I remember reading a thread on the Student Room about AHs and there were one or two students who reported that an exceptional student at their school had done 4 or more in S6 but they were complete outliers.

Dd's bf did 4 and by that point he had and had accepted an unconditional offer for Glasgow, but he is exceptionally clever. (Dd, not so much!)

@clpsmum

I don't think he is planning on uni tbh and if he is it definitely won't be oxbridge!!

He's going to do 4 highers and two extra nat 5 this year and see how that goes before deciding on next year. Thanks everyone you've all been a great help

What is he aiming for? Usually that's a starting point when deciding what to do in the senior years

@CharityShopChic

And the A* grade doesn't exist for Advanced Higher

But A band 1 does (85% +).

Also, any very academic course wants 5 Highers all sat in S5. Some want straight As before you'll get an interview (medicine/ dentistry).

DS1 has 5 Highers at A band 1 and has all unconditional offers for uni, therefore rendering his AH and extra Highers this year meaningless (in terms of entrance, not in terms of knowledge).

@CharityShopChic

And the A* grade doesn't exist for Advanced Higher

You can get an Upper A though, which generally has a higher grade boundary than an A* at A level. Seem to remember having to find out whether DS had As or Upper As for Oxbridge application.

This thread is a prime stealth boasting opportunity

@Wbeezer

This thread is a prime stealth boasting opportunity

🙈 I suppose it is. Sorry! Rest assured DS2 is NOT going to be clutching any As, never mind band 1s. They're all so different.

On the certificate it always says the banding. As teachers we refer to banding/ predict banding.

A1- 85+
A2- 70+
B3- 65+
B4- 60+
C5- 55+
C6- 50+
D7- 45+
D8- 40+
E9- 40-

Ours just have A/B/C etc there is not any banding on their certificate

There isn't banding on the certificate but the schools will get fuller results showing whether they got A band 1 or A band 2, etc. Depends on the % they got in the exam.

Its definitely not on the certificate the kids get as my dd has sat 3 years of exams recently and it just gives the A, B, C, etc on it

Ah right sorry I thought the poster meant it was in the actual certificate. We have a handful of certificates here too!