Prelims 2022/23

[CrabbitBastard]

DD is now in S4 and has been told her prelims will be starting at the end of November which seems a bit earlier than I remember? Is this normal? Will they get any study leave and if not, how should she be studying?

I know past papers are more for the final exams than for the prelims. She says Bitesize is shite but she does always do her homework and I got her some 'how to pass' books. She also plans to start a 'study club' with her pals where they take it in turns to go to each others houses to study. I'm a bit worried they will mess about although tbf they do tend to all get good grades in tests so far. I've told DD if I get any hint that they aren't really studying, then the study group stops!

Any one else's DCs preparing for prelims? Any tips from teachers?

Study leave varies from school to school- many binned it as it was damaging to pupils sitting all N4 or mostly N4s. In reality parent's usually keep them off sending them in at the times where they have exams and letting them study at home when they don't. Our school put the absence through as study leave.

November is not unusual though it certainly is a mad dash to cover the material required. Study club sounds great, if as you said they legitimately are. There are various revision timetable templates available to download that might help your DD organise her time. Past paper are still good for Prelims, I always direct pupils and pate to the Understanding Standards part of SQA website as there are full marker commentaries which are really helpful. BBCBITESIZE is good for English (my subject) can't say I looked at others.

YouTube is good too. Lots of teachers recorded guides during lockdown 2 and have now shared them there.

Fuck wish there was an edit button. Please ignore rogue apostrophe

Our school has prelims before Christmas for S4 and after Christmas for S5 and S6. They didn't get study leave for them. They only got study leave for the SQA exams.

My dcs didn't do anything special for them except doing lots of past paper practise in school. I am sure they had access to the marking schemes too so they knew what sort of info they needed ro include to get the best marks

great tip about youtube videos, that's the sort of study method that DD might actually buy into. Thanks!

Sorry for my absolute ignorance here, but what is the purpose of prelims? I grew up in England so have little knowledge of exams here.

Prelims = mocks

They are practise exams. They help see where knowledge might be lacking. They give the children experience of the exam situation so it's not as scary. They also give back up in case there is a reason that a child misses the proper exam and this gives evidence as to what the result should be.

I have nothing useful to add other than I forgot bloody prelims 😱.
DH was looking at booking a week abroad at Easter and I told him not to as we are also S4 and I don't think revising on holiday would be relaxing for anyone. Exams proper are usually May, is that right?

That’s what I thought but there seems to be more emphasis placed on the prelims than when I did mock GCSEs.

SQA website says:

2023 exam dates

The 2023 exam diet starts on Monday 24 April and finishes on Thursday 1 June 2023. Results day will be Tuesday 8 August 2023.

Thank you @dementedpixie
Stupidly didn't think to look there.
My parents had no interest whatsoever, I must try and do better!!

Well DD doesn't want to watch youtube videos. It seems that's not her preferred way of studying after all, athough she's more than happy to watch other youtube videos! At least she's studying in some way! She has two assessments this week for chemistry and business management. Don't know if they count towards any grades but she's been busy with her notebook and highlighters.

Didn't they just go back last Wednesday? Seems very full on.
I did ask DD this morning and she has all the relevant info and seems relatively relaxed about it although I'm sure that will change!

Doing little and often from the start really takes the pressure off when they get nearer and need to start doing more before the prelims. Personally, for ds, I would have been very suspicious of how much studying went on at a study club at a mates house.

There are some good Thomas frank videos on youtube that are worth a watch for ideas on study techniques. Ds watched the one below, and took some notes, and then we discussed what techniques he liked and how different ones might suit different subjects, then he went off and gave them a go.

Revision guides can be a bit hit and miss, one ds did find useful was the RUAE sections in the brightred English coursebook. It was a quite a lot to work though, but he found it very helpful.

Yeah they got back on Wednesday but DD has two assessments this week that she needs to study for so as wings says, getting into good habits early will help. Seems she wants to do the studying her way so she's poo poo'd my suggestion of videos on youtube, or bitesize but she did admit that she's asked her Chemistry teacher for an extra revision session over lunch.

Ds3 has just started S5. He and his friends did a lot of online studying together. I was sceptical but they all did very well in their N5’s. Quite a few of his friends have tutors so I think ds benefited there.

They didn’t have study leave for the prelims only the exams. Our prelims are in January.

The trouble with YouTube is that you can learn a lot from it, but it isn't necessarily the right stuff!

For Chemistry I recommend Miss Adam's Chemistry Youtube channel. She is a Scottish teacher and does the exact work that they need to cover for the Scottish curriculum and exams. I think just using her will take away the overwhelm of trawling through so many videos.

Also, the bite size is only useful if you specifically use the National 5 part of it. So again, this will help her narrow down which parts to look at.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/New-National-Chemistry-Curriculum-Excellence/dp/1782949895/ref=ascdff_1782949895/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310561939160&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3059330690881309195&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007395&hvtargid=pla-564374200713&psc=1&th=1&psc=1#

My students like this book for summaries, she might too?

Also, remember that on the SQA site there are all the past papers, and mark schemes so no need to buy any of them.

What can help is model answers, because sometimes students need help converting the mark schemes into what to actually write in their papers. Teachers should be able to help with this at study support.

Oh and yes, no study leave for prelims, o lot for the real thing.

I think most schools ended up doing 2 prelims this year because the SQA changed the appeals process so the predicted grades needed evidence. We found the 2 helped our students by "forcing" them to do more revision and also helping them be more comfortable with exam environment and question.

The 2023 exam timetable is now online.

As for prelims, DD says she thinks they will get a week study leave because older friends told her so, I'm not convinced though as have never heard of it before. She also says that for English, she was told they only need to remember one poem? Does she mean one poem or one poet?

I have one in S4, so thank you for starting this thread for sharing ideas and support (for the parents!!).

Will check out exam timetable. Thanks for posting OP.

Ah you're welcome! I was worried I was just an over anxious parent, worrying too early about these things!

@CrabbitBastard for this years exam in English, they were told which poem would be examined. It was part of the subject guides the SQA gave to make the leap back to exams less giant. Not sure that will happen for next years exams.

Thanks! DD says that's what she was told - that this years covid changes would remain in place and she would have to remember a single poem. I wasn't sure if she meant a single poeT but seems like you are right. Is it wrong of me as a parent to wonder if that is making it too easy? (I do want DD to pass though!)

Thanks for flagging up the dates, I checked after reading this the last time but they weren't up yet.

Please be careful when using the Sqa website for past papers - the more recent the better, the exam has changed format more than once. I think for Nat5 anything from 2018 onward should be ok.