There Highers and 2 Nat 5s?

[theferry]

DD is selecting her Highers for next year. She wants to ultimately work in film/television.

Luckily, her school is offering a Nat 5 and a higher in ‘film and screen’ (which will be the first year of running)

Alongside this, she wants to do Highers in history, biology, English and drama.

Given she has not studied the film module before, her teacher has suggested we put her down to do the Nat 5 and see how she gets on.

But she also has to select a reserve subject. She does not want to select any of the other subjects she’s taking now. She wants to select ‘creative industries’ as her reserve, but as she’s not studied this before I’m assuming she would also have to go in for Nat 5

So…it’s possible she would end up doing only 3 Highers, along with 2 Nat 5s. How problematic would this be for university/further study? How common is this? Presumably she’d be very limited to what she can do at Advanced Highers. She’s a B/C student and wants to go to uni. I think she’d be OK if she carried on with her interest in film, but I don’t want to cancel out other possible areas of study?

Hi- if she is thinking of going to uni after school it would probably be best to check their entry requirements- lots of courses require 4 or 5 highers passed in one sitting (e.g. in S5) but this may not be the case for her particular areas of interest.

Entry requirements for Film and TV are high, usually AAABB or A in Advanced Higher and AABB. This is over 2 years so if she's sitting 3 highers and 2 Nat 5 in S5 she should have a good chance of getting this.
Also check if she falls under special consideration for entry requirements, if she has any additional needs, comes from a deprived school/postcode (we were very surprised to find we're in a deprived postcode somehow!) the entry requirements are lower. Check the entry requirement pages on the subject at uni's of her choice.
Good luck to you, it is so difficult, ds is in S4, good at English, Drama and Computer Science, and it looks like he can also take 3 highers, a Nat5 but his last column of choices has higher physics or a computer design course which isn't a Nat5. I think it will be useless but he says he will definitely fail higher physics so I suppose he knows best about that! He's interested in Film and TV as well as computer science courses, but it's difficult to help them pick a direction when they are so young.

This is one of the things that was at the back of my mind but she really wants to drop Maths/Accounting and Business. She was failing at accounting, but has really turned it around and got A1 in her prelim, but she just doesn’t enjoy it.

Can I ask where you found these grades? There don’t appear to be many universities in Scotland that offer relevant degrees. I’ve found Highlands and Islands and the Uni of West Scotland. She wants to work behind the scenes in film.

The interest in film has only just come about so I haven’t had much chance to do some research. She needs to hand her options form in tomorrow.

Glasgow Uni have Film and TV but entrance qualifications on that one are high, 5 B's at S5 - www.gla.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/filmtelevisionstudies/#entryrequirements

But there are others, I think Glasgow Caledonian and Dundee or Abertay have very good media courses, and I found a link to career advice on this area from Strathclyde Uni that might be useful - www.strath.ac.uk/professionalservices/careers/occresources/iwanttoworkinbroadcastingfilmandvideoproductionandtechnical/
I know the Royal Conservetoire is very hard to get into for Performance Arts but easier if you want to do Theatre/TV backstage, but I think you may have to apply to them directly as opposed to through UCAS.

Queen Margaret Uni in Edinburgh do a film and media degree with standard entry 4 Bs

How strong are her passes in English and Drama looking at present? If she"s confident in these subjects couldn't she try Higher - there are lots of connections- analysis, script writing etc. If she's doing pretty well 3 Highers and 2 N5s might get not challenge her. Would you be prepared for 3 Highers including Drama and 2 N5s also in creative subjects? Not disrespecting those subjects, I'd have loved them when I was at school. Might make for a challenging S6 if she needs to up her Higher count but doesn't want to progress with some of her current subjects.

Staffing and pupil uptake will always mean that nothing is guaranteed and a reserve choice is required. Could you find out about which subject (if any) might be oversubscribed/understaffed?

You mentioned module in your OP - is this new qualification definitely a Nat 5 or Higher with formal exam or NPA level 5 and 6 ? These are the same level of complexity but are "units" assessed by the school, with no final exam. They are SQA qualifications but are pass/fail not graded. They carry some UCAS tariff points but not an NPA level 6 pass would not attract the same as an B pass at Higher.