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.

I'd encourage him to write essays to build up speed and fluency. Do some mindmaps of important quotes or references for SST. RUAE short examples (I can send you a whole whack if you like)

Thank you so much this is very helpful! They have loads of resources, quite possibly too many, a bit of overwhelm going on this week.
Dc convinced they've to learn their critical essay by heart?

DS1 has a weekly tutorial with an online group - he did the same with Nat5 and ended up with a B after a predicted D.
He's been using past papers, online resources, study groups at school.
For RUAE, he's been very much looking at the structure of his answers and what he needs to cover to get the marks.

No. They should know their text. What happens, key events/quotes/techniques. But bbe able to apply it to different Q's.

@britINscotland encouragement is great but some parents really get far too involved. In S4 I gave DC help/support in some subjects but in S5 he knows what he's got to do better than I do and I am mostly leaving him to it, checking in to ask how he's getting on every so often.

Sitting with him and chatting about the past paper questions and helping encourage him. He often procrastinates. Thankfully he has extra time/ICT support (especially for H English) for all his subjects arranged or he would struggle massively.

The new timetable at DC's school starts end of May. Often whilst exams are still on😬

Third time round for me. I usually get DC to tell me all about the book/poem(s) that they are doing and then i ask them to explain what they liked about the text etc...DS has done Edwin Morgan poems and Animal Farm. I think he found it helpful to have a discussion about Animal Farm and he was interested in the Russian Revolution allegory, so enjoyed the text, which helps.

Same for DS, he will probably be put off reading Mccaig for the rest of his life🤣Roll on Thursday.

My eldest has 7 As at N5, 5 As at higher and a clutch of unconditional university offers so it’s hardly like my lax parenting has held him
back ;)

the things you mention are just part of general parenting to me

These are not run of the mill passes for most secondary aged pupils in Scotland so we'll done to your DS @DownWithThisKindOfThing

Most don't achieve straight As.

*well done

DS has additional support needs that were late being picked up by the local authority, there just doesn't seem to be the knowledge about dysgraphia and so on. Awaiting diagnosis from CAMHS re: ADHD and autism, to be honest it's a miracle he got the amazing passes he did for his NAT5s last year.

For children who breeze through school, thank your lucky stars. Many have additional needs that have not been recognised quickly enough and struggle so much.

If DS passes all four Highers with a C I will be very proud of him tbh. He is likely to get an A in music as it comes natural to him but the other three (one is a crash Higher) a C is probably more realistic. I have spent a lot of my time with him during the school day supporting him or no revision would be done.

@Vettrianofan - completely get what you're saying. DH and I are both professionals who sailed through school without too much effort.
I'm incredibly proud of DS1 for passing his Nat5s last year, and if he even passes 2 of his Highers I'll be delighted.
He's going on to a college course where hopefully his adhd and dyslexia won't hold him back too much.
I am jealous of all my friends with straight A children, but I know that all sorts of things can lie behind a peaceful facade. I just sometimes wish I had more 'straightforward' children.

Glad someone else understands on this thread. I was dreading this study leave as it approached knowing I have to put any plans aside for myself to focus on my eldest and really give him my full support just now. I'm studying part time with the OU so having to juggle my own coursework round his needs.

Your DS will be successful too @weebarra there's more ways than just conventional Highers to be successful. With lots of parental supports he will really thrive❤️

I think this being mumsnet, there will be a higher than the average amount of straight As offspring!
I'm delighted mine is sitting any highers at all...it didn't look likely at the start of the Nat 5 journey!
Good luck to all of them!

I can appreciate how you feel. DD is highly dyslexic and struggles hugely. I helped her a lot for Nat 5s and she managed to get 3 As and 3B’s. Ultimately, though, she was the one who wrote the exams. I just helped her revise and organise things.

I'm also helping with Highers, but I fear that we won’t have the same outcome. She knows her stuff, but even with extra time she hasn’t been able to complete a paper within the time limit. It takes her so long to read tte extracts in English exams that she has no time to write.

@theferry does she not get extra time? (Altho I appreciate it's hard even with that)

Yes, she gets between 25% and 33% extra time. The amount of reading there is for the English exams is really challenging.

Similar issues with DS then with Higher English. His OT was able to spot all his difficulties really quickly during assessment a few months ago.

Yes, similar here last year working through revision materials with DS. I also feel Higher outcomes won't work out as successful. He sat eight NAT 5s and got a mixture of As and Bs and one C.

I wish more awareness was out there about the ones who are bright but struggle so much. DS has been told by his school he has a very high IQ, but this means nothing if you cannot relate well to the world around you and adapt your intellect to exam conditions.

Oh that's not much is it? I hope she does ok.❤️
I read an RUAE paper alongside my dc the other day and was surprised how long it took them. They're quite tough passages.

DS is getting extra time and needs ICT support too. He would have struggled without tbh.

Best of luck to all the kids sitting H English tomorrow. It'll be lovely to have a big and challenging one out of the way.

My son is lucky in that he doesn't have any AAA (diabetes aside) but he really struggles with the RUAE Q's because he's such a literal kid and doesn't realise he's allowed to infer. It's been a real struggle and sometimes his rigidity in understanding has impacted his performance.

Time will tell. Either way, he won't repeat it so he's done with English!

My youngest has ASD and got 25% extra time and to use ICT for his N5 English. I'm praying he got a C after a no award at prelim, we got him a tutor which seems to have helped, time will tell I guess. If he hasn't got a C he will be resitting but if he does better than expected I have told him we won't be insisting he does the higher. My eldest is brilliant at English, got 95% or something crazy in his N5, and although he did get an A at higher he found the step up really hard.

I have one high flier and one with ASD who until p6 could barely even sit in a classroom, then had his transition and first 2 years at high school impacted by covid, so I do understand. Assuming my youngest passes his 6 Nat 5 he'll be doing 1 or at most 2 highers next year. He's as intelligent as his brother but he's just not suited to the system of assessment via examination we have which is crap for such children.