Secondary teachers - can you settle an argument?

[thatsnotmywean]

DD says her teachers have told her that Chemistry and Maths are the hardest Highers to pass and Geography and Human Biology are the easiest.
She says this is what her teachers have told her and its based on pass marks over the past few years.
I'm trying to tell her that's most likely her teachers individual opinions and I cannot find anything 'official' online to support this assertion.
DD is thinking of crashing both H Geography and H Human Biology in S6.
Is this wise (she's an A/B student so far) and is she right re: easy/hard?

No, they are not easier or harder. Grade boundaries are adjusted so broadly as many people get each grade in each subject. So approximately equal percentages of candidates get an A in geography, biology, maths, English, French, or whatever random subject you insert here.
Now within individual schools, this can vary - for example, in my school, we get fantastic results in my subject. However, we also have really small class sizes.

Why is your child talking about s6 subjects now? It’s still so early in the year. And what basis are you predicting they are an A/B student? Based off N5 results? Those tend not to translate to equivalencies at higher level.

Both those subjects are quite similar in terms of them being quite content driven, knowledge based subjects. Which means for those who enjoy rote learning, they can be considered to be “easier” - however, not all children learn this way, and the amount of content you need is way more than for some other skills based subjects.

What subjects is your child doing in s5? And who is recommending these subject choices to them? What subject does this teacher teach? What are your child’s goals after school?

Yes she got 5As 2Bs in N5. Doing 5 Highers, getting high marks in class tests so far and has tutors to maintain the high grades. She intends to go to university. She brought up herself what she wants to do in S6 - one of the subjects is related to her DFs job so they were having a discussion. I realise her subject choices may change.

What are the entry requirements for her course?

My experience of s6 crashers who already have met the entry requirements for their course in s5 is generally very poor. My own experience of crashing subjects in s6 was similar.

Personally, I’d have a look at some of the wider achievement things the school offers, and combine some of those with a couple of advanced highers linked to her chosen degree. Or, see if they offer a “nice” subject that she has interest in, like maybe web design, cake decoration, music tech, hair and beauty, etc. - most schools have a good offering in these kind of subjects for s6 pupils.

I just don’t understand why she’d pick such content heavy courses in s6, given that you are predicting she’s going to get the grades she needs for uni in s5, and she’s clearly not shown much interest in these subjects until this point.

It might not be the case that she's shown no interest, especially in Biology as schools seem to be very against doing 3 sciences. I wasn't allowed to do 3 sciences so took crash Higher Biology in S6, found it very easy and got an A.

You were likely not “not allowed” to do three sciences - they probably don’t have the ability to timetable three science teachers teaching seniors in three columns. Same most likely happened in the humanities columns too.

Still, it sounds like ops daughter is specifically choosing these two subjects as they are “easy”

They also had the option to choose in S3/4 (depending on how the individual school do option choices) and then again in s5. A more sensible route - if that were the case - would be subject choices as follows (as an example)

s3-4 national 5’s
english
maths
french
chemistry
physics
drama
history
p.e.

s5
english
maths
chemistry
crash biology
drama

s6
physics
crash geography
advanced english
game design n5
Duke of Edinburgh

You're a bit of a negative nancy aren't you @PlantMum23
I asked if it were 'true' they were easy but her subject considerations aren't solely based on ease. She has a background in one subject due to her dad's profession, and though she began S3 with Geography, she switched to History for S4, even though she enjoyed Geography.
The surprise subject consideration is Biology. However, her options are not finalized; there's still time to explore all possibilities and reconsider.
For her, Foundation Apprenticeships (FA) and college courses aren't appealing. The options available aren't relevant to what she wants to do either.
Additionally, the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DoE) doesn't seem to be available at her school and again doesn't align with her interests.
I'd rather she opt for a Higher that might be considered 'easier' but beneficial for university entry, as compared to a National 5 (N5), which might not significantly impact her university prospects.

Not sure exactly what I’ve said is considered “negative” to you? I’ve factually told you that no, they aren’t easier.
Im interested to know what kind of curriculum model your child’s school use where you choose in s2 Into s3, but can pick fresh subjects up in s4?Not something I’ve experienced in any of the schools I’ve worked in - most either choose for s3 and s4 and treat them as a single year, or you choose in s3 and then drop a few (without picking up new ones) in s4.

What her thinking was behind dropping a subject she liked to pick up a fresh one?

I never once mentioned FA courses or college courses. Every school I’ve worked in offers them in-house. It doesn’t need to be relevant to what she wants to do.

Surely if she gets the 5a’s or B’s you are expecting, she won’t need more highers in s6? That’s my point. Advanced highers would be more advantageous to prepare her for university style learning. And I wouldn’t recommend doing more than a few of those.

If grade boundaries are adjusted so the same percentage get a top grade but the cohort taking one subject is less strong than the other ( as will happen if the perception is one subject is hard ) then they won't be equally hard

Things may have changed since I took my highers, but I did crash higher biology in S6 and found it pretty easy (having done the other 2 sciences in S5, biology was definitely the easiest).