2024 exam thread

[motheronthedancefloor]

Hows everyone's kids getting on with their exams / studying?

DDs first Higher exam is D&M I think. She's been busy working on past papers but feels fairly confident. She is least confident about Chemistry.

Good luck with H Chemistry!
Sod's Law that they finish the exams and the weather becomes awful!

Ds has AH Chemistry today and then that's him finished. He's then going to go round the school with his leavers form as all the teachers need to sign it. And then a group of them are going for lunch somewhere. He's taken his jacket!

Text from DD - higher chem paper 1 was awful 😬

She left this morning saying she expects to fail 😔

I just hope she's worrying unnecessary

Sorry to hear that but hopefully everyone found it hard and it will adjust the grade boundary.

My youngest has set off for his N5 chemistry roll on this afternoon and them all being done

DS wasn't overly happy either.

She wasn't happy with paper 2 either. Reckons she's failed.

Really hope she's just being dramatic as she's had a tutor all year, did all the easter revision classes, supported study and Miss Adams chemistry videos.

Someone on twitter said it was bad too so maybe as you say the grade boundaries will go down. I think last year it was a min of 50 out of 120 marks for a C, so less than half.

So that's us done with exams and 6 weeks to stress about the results!

DS came home and said both H Chemistry papers went "fine". He had to use extra paper to answer all the questions and used all his extra allocated time in the exam. He feels confident about it.

What a relief it's over.

He's sitting Advanced Higher Music and N5 Music Tech for S6. Day release at the local tech for Sound Production too. Only three subjects for S6 (plus obligatory PE and PSE.) Think performing arts course as a filler too. Guidance teacher said he doesn't need to have N5 or Higher Modern Studies if he doesn't want to so he has a pretty blank looking S6 timetable 🙄

Ds3 has just told me that he didn’t get the computing science paper finished and he didn’t get his extra time. I don’t know if it’s worth saying anything to the school now. Fortunately he’s all set for next year so it’s not quite so important. He is planning to take gifts in for his teachers next week so I might get him to ask about it.

I think you should at least mention the lack of extra time, especially as he didn't finish the paper.
DS1 has been asked to go into school to discuss his coursing. He has a place at college which doesn't require any qualifications but he really wants to at least get his Higher English, so he's going back for June to start next session.
However, he's not in a great place - he was diagnosed with depression just before the exams and started antidepressants this week.
Part of me thinks he should just leave and if he fails English he sits it at another time.
Ironically, I'm a qualified careers adviser. Difficult when it's your own child though!

Ds said the AH Chemistry paper 1 had a few questions he was unsure of but the 2nd paper was fine and better than he'd thought it would be. He's wandered round and got his leavers form signed, handed in text books and handed back his locker key.

Then a group of them went to Hamilton for food at Tony Macaroni before eventually coming home again

Christ, went to an S6 information evening at DD's school tonight - lots of stuff about applying for uni for 2025 entry, suddenly it all feels terrifyingly soon! She's still got one more Higher next week, and now it's all about how to write a personal statement - eek. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Thanks @weebarra. I will have a word with them. I hope the anti depressants help your son. It can be so difficult to know what to do for the best sometimes.

I think if you want special consideration you need to raise it within 5 days so you’ll need to contact the school tomorrow. I would as they have failed to make a reasonable adjustment so that needs to be addressed

Thanks @DownWithThisKindOfThing I will do that.

@Threeboysadogacatandakitten was the ET confirmed prior to the exam? My dc always got a list of what the accommodations were going to be - ET in one subject but not another etc.
If he did have this arranged then he should absolutely have got it and I would tell the school. However, have a think too how he got on in his prelim - if the school send that in as evidence, was it a good result?

Anyone's child doing Higher Philosophy today?

No, but best of luck! My degree is in philosophy and I can't imagine doing it at higher!

Got the half-way through phone call and she wrote 21 pages for one questions and 18 for the other 😱I asked if the examiner is going to have to fish the answer out and she said she doesn't think so . . . . seems very excessive!

@MistressIggi This has been a very strange subject from the start. The school weren’t running the higher class last year but he and a couple of others did it in their spare/study time with some help from the subject teacher in his spare time. He got an A and wanted to do the Adv Higher this year so he’s been timetabled in with the Nat 5 class. When the exam timetable was handed out the Adv Higher wasn’t on it. I don’t think anyone other than the subject teacher new he was doing it. It was sorted out but this may be where extra time was missed. I am obviously extremely grateful to the teacher for taking the time to do this for him and as Ds got the results he needed last year and is sorted for this year, I’m just going to leave it. Ds is happy with that.

Hi, anyone got a child doing N5 art? My dd is and I just wanted to clarify that it is only section 1 or 2 that she needs to answer in the exam ie either creative or product? I think that is the case but just to make sure, makes the exam only 25 marks which I thought seemed low...

I don't know the exam but had a look on the SQA website. For the last few years it has been a 25 mark paper. However in 2019 it was a 50 mark paper. It could be the reduction was a covid mitigation that has been removed - or it could be permanent. I think your dd really needs to know from someone at the school. Do they have Teams? Worth an email to the teacher even though it's the weekend 😀
Though your dd will have been told in class so whatever she thinks is probably right!

Thanks, she showed me last years paper and it was 25 marks so looks like one or the other but her teacher told her to study both which might be the best approach!

I know that Dd has sheets with key information on one design and one expressive artist. She has studied them both in her class so I assume there will be questions on both.

She said she has been told the exam is worth 50 points overall. 20% of overall grade.

From next year the paper will be shorter and be 40 points but still retain the 20% of grade value.

Course specification page

This shows the exam
is 50 marks this year

Perfect! Thanks