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?

She'll have done all six by the May exam, and I'd hazard a guess at three before the prelim? We teach three, sometimes four, before the prelim. She'll need to be aware of links between the two poems and have some textual references ready to use in the exam (one of the Qs required them to remember knowledge about a poem they don't have in front of them).

My son has done three MacCaig poems. Prelim in 13 days. They haven't finished their novel yet 😭 Luckily he's read it in his own time and now we can start looking at essay Q's together, but it feels TIGHT.

He did a practise exam style assessment in History last week and got 14/19. He was disappointed as it was "barely an A". But he's been going to Study Club and working hard, so I'm delighted with how well he's done.

History and English will be his trickiest exams, for sure.

Ds3 (16) has received an envelope (in the post this morning) from SQA. It’s identical to the envelope containing his N5 results that he got in August. He’s not home until 9pm tonight. Does anyone have any idea what it could be.

Signed, one very nosy curious Mum!

Did they appeal any of their grades?

@dementedpixie I don’t think so. He was predicted 8 A’s but got 6 A’s and two B’s. He was going to appeal the B’s and spoke to at least one of the teachers but then decided he was happy with what he had (I was delighted) and said he would just leave it. Would a teacher go ahead submit an appeal without me knowing. I should say ds has ASD/DCD so is not always reliable with information.

Very strange
My ds sat Nat5s too and hasn't had an extra envelope in the post (in case it was a marketing thing). Maybe a teacher did an appeal on his behalf. Let us know what you find out later.

I would appeal on behalf of a kid if I thought the final grade was incongruent with their performance all year.

Let us know!

I’m really excited now. He should really have managed an A for Gaelic but I did doubt the “A” prediction for English. It would be such a lovely boost for him if he got either 🤞. I will let you know when he gets in.

Do they write to you to say if the appeal was not upheld though?

They may well do.

Yay! His Gaelic teacher must have submitted an appeal on his behalf and he now has an A. I’m just having a wee glass of wine to settle my nerves.

Great news @Threeboysandadog
He will be very happy too

Thank you.

DD is worrying me again about her English. She admits its her worse subject and she has no interest in it, although her teacher said at parents night she expects DD to get an A and DDs notes all look good.
DD asked me to write her essay on "the lighthouse" last night. Apparently they've been told to write an essay and memorise it for the prelim.
I firstly told her no way was I writing it, because how would she learn? but I'd help her go over what she needed to do. Also I looked up the requirements and you could be asked anything about it in the final exam, but she says for the prelim, they've been told what to write and to memorise it in advance?
Anyway I gave her some guidance on the theme of 'neglect' and what to look for in the story. We looked at some online study resources for the story too. she went away and hopefully wrote something.
Worried parent though - if she's asking me to write an essay for her, that's not good at all! But I was firm and I feel guilty for being firm!

You shouldn't feel guilty for not helping your dd cheat in an exam! What's next, get a tutor to write the essays for her?

I don't understand - how does your daughter expect you to write a better essay than she would? She's been in the classroom and seen the examples / heard the discussions / had the feedback!

It's true that the Qs are very similar year on year. At N5 the prose Q's are inevitably on a character, a theme/issue or a key incident. But the wording does vary slightly and it's never a great idea to memorise one.

It's poor advice from the school.

I always rant about the pitfalls of memorising an essay. Have a good knowledge of a range of quotes which can be analysed in way which answers variety if questions. But an essay - that way madness lies. We can always tell when a candidate is writing the essay they memorised rather than one which answers the question. Well done for staying strong.

yeah I was really surprised the teacher was advising this rather than telling them to plan for different possibilities. I questioned DD on this and she says she was told its just for the prelim and they will explore other potential questions after the prelim. English was always my strongest subject (and history) whereas DD is more interested in subjects like maths. I do try to hide my disappointment!
I wish they were still studying sunset song, the cone gatherers, of mice and men, mrs frisby and the rats of nimh nostalgia
Bloody government seemingly banning anything not scottish boo

My son has told me he might not bother with Higher English as "it's basically an irrelevant subject". I'm a bloody English teacher 🤣🤣like a knife to the heart. He's definitely more mathsy and science-oriented.

He got a class RUAE test back today, got 80%. Would be fantastic if he managed to maintain that for the prelim!

I do my best not to know the prelim Qs. I look over the paper really early in the year to check there aren't any obviously daft Qs we need to change, but I actively try to forget the Qs. It serves no-one well if they think the only reason they performed highly is because they were fed the Qs beforehand, least of all the kids' confidence.

For his N5 prelim ds knew in advance that the question would a character type question (not a setting, scene, key incident etc type question), but didn't know the actual question.

So they were taught and prepared for a character type question. Planned their introductions and conclusions and 4-5 paragraphs on quotes for character analysis, were taught how to structure the paragraphs and told they should adapt the quotes they had to the question that was asked. He did not memorise the essay verbatim, but had revised his bullet point essay plans for the quotes he had.

The prelim question was a character question, one that was quite different from what they had revised which left him a bit flustered at first, but he managed to work what he had done around it and it was good practise to remain calm, think through the question, get used to the exam environment and time constraints and remember to keep checking when writing the essay in each paragraph you are answering the actual question asked.

By the time he got to the exams in May he had 4-5 essay plans for the main types of questions and felt a little more comfortable. All of these were prepared at home using class notes. Once he knew what to do he spent ages preparing plans and revising for English as it didn't come naturally to him, he wishes he had started it all much earlier, but didn't know how until quite late in the year. Higher was better and more spread out though the year as he knew what to do.

Yes I guess the prelim will let her know what to expect and what to work on. I have already warned her "what if the question is different?" so not much more I can do. Hopefully I'm worrying unnecessarily and it will all go smoothly.
2 weeks to go here!

DD is really struggling. Thankfully we finally have a dyslexia diagnosis so I’m liaising with her teacher so that she has extra time for exams and other adjustments.

She’s tried revising but doesn’t know where to start. I’ve been too busy with work to spend lots of time on it, but I’ve freed up time to help over the next fortnight.

She is really inconsistent with school work. One test she’ll get 80%, next one she’ll get 40%. It means she’s up and down with her confidence.

Floods of tears today. The pressure is getting to her. She's off to a pals house and hopefully will be able to relax a bit and play some xbox.

We've gotten DC a tutor (will try to be vague in case tutor is on here!)

I'm in two minds regarding this tutor though.

I found him online, and he does online tuition which DC wants as they dont doesn't feel comfortable going to a strangers house. The tutor has a PHD in English so seems to know his subject. Tutor has over 100 positive reviews. Tutor is £20 an hour which is cheaper than others who are £50 an hour. Tutor sent a whole bunch of useful resources for DC to use and asked a lot of questions about what DC was studying - all good.

But in the first call, the tutor was swearing. DC found it funny but I'm not so sure? He told DC their school was sht and he knew DCs teacher who is a little btch. DC laughed and agreed. I suppose its one way to build rapport?

DC said afterwards they found the tutor pushy - if DC didn't know an answer, the tutor would tell them "yes you do, think" and go silent until DC came up with something. DC did not like this. DC also says they did not go over what they had asked to go over. But tutor has given good resources and relevant homework.

Then I googled the tutor and 10 years ago the tutor was in court and got community service for assault against a partner - first offence.

DH says I'm worrying too much - the tutor is well qualified in their field, available, low cost, has 100+ positive reviews, just needs time to get to know DC, people change and the community service was 10 years ago, its online so dont need to meet in person, its only a few sessions until prelims and can always change to another tutor afterwards, DC needs someone who pushes them etc

What do I do, do I give the person the benefit of the doubt?

But in the first call, the tutor was swearing. DC found it funny but I'm not so sure? He told DC their school was sht and he knew DCs teacher who is a little btch. DC laughed and agreed. I suppose its one way to build rapport?

Crikey @TinyChancer There's lot of ref flags there! He's VERY cheap for an English tutor so that would ring alarm bells. What is his day job?

We only use a tutor on personal recommendation or someone we know definitely works as a teacher in X school. Know it's online but tutors are still working with school children so you need to feel confident this person is appropriate for this job.

If you do continue can you sit in the room and listen in on next session a land then make a decision?
Did you witness these comments or is this DD's report?