Exam results 2024

[motheronthedancefloor]

Thought I'd get started on the exam results thread as we have a month to go!
I think, as a parent, I'm more nervous about this year (Highers) than last year (N5) as the Higher results will influence university applications.
DD tells me she's not thinking about her exams, but then she throws into conversation how 'super smart' her friends are and how they will probably get As, and also has asked me if our postcode is eligible for widening access (it isn't) so it appears to me that she IS thinking / worrying about her results.
We do have a holiday coming up which will hopefully help us all relax.
How are other kids doing?

Did anyones kids complete an NPA as one of their S5/S6 school subjects? My son did but it hasn't appeared on the SQA certificate - only his Highers are on it.

Yes ds did a level 5 one last year and level 6 this year.

I'm pretty sure he got the certificate towards the end of term/beginning of the summer. It definitely wasn't included on his SQA cert today and nor was it last year.

DS1 got 2 NAs, D, C.
The C was for H English so that's good. He's obviously disappointed but he was predicted NA for them all, so that's an achievement.

Yes mine did and it is on the summary of attainment she got in the post today alongside her Nat5s

Will school know the % each child gets? We are considering an appeal but we don’t know if the D that DS got is at around 40% or 49% so worth the appeal Process?

That's the exact same issue we have too.

Yes, they will

Well done to your DS, amazing achievement especially for H English🥳

DD is going to speak to her teachers about appealing but she thinks her cowbag D&M teacher won't want her to. DD has consistently gotten As but got a B today. We suspect her teacher didn't send off her folio properly as she made DD redo it after teacher 'lost it' but how can we prove that or get it looked at :(

Appealing is just an administrative check that the SQA didn’t miss a question or not add up correctly, and was marked in line with standards (but NOT a remark). Your DD teacher has no say in whether your DD appeals. Last year 3980 (10%) of appeals resulted in an upgrade. Five were downgraded - something to watch if near a lower boundary but very rare. I am not sure you can do anything about the folio

I would be incredibly cautious about appealing if your DD got a B. It could go down @motheronthedancefloor rather than up and cannot be changed after the appeal.

DS got a surprising B for Nat5 History last year (after getting consistent As) we considered appealing but took his teacher's advice and kept his B. It was the safest thing to do.

Well done to all kids whether you passed or failed all we can ask as parents is
you tried your best

My son got 2 A - 1 B - 2 C
D in Physics and D in History NAT 5

He was 1% off an A in his prelim for History so will be appealing however not confident with the new appeals procedure

Dont know if anyone else been in a similar situation but during study leave we got email from sons school saying due to time constraints in class not all the history work was completed in class - fast forward to a week before the exam kids were asked to come in school for 90 mins to get taught the missed work
Will certainly be putting that to sqa / school when putting in appeal

That’s interesting as After a couple of weeks dd school maths department told them there wasn’t actually enough time to teach them everything in the higher maths course.
They were told they needed to do independent study via a couple of websites.
They have also been short of maths teachers for about 4 years. But that’s a whole other issue !

Dont know if anyone else been in a similar situation but during study leave we got email from sons school saying due to time constraints in class not all the history work was completed in class - fast forward to a week before the exam kids were asked to come in school for 90 mins to get taught the missed work
Will certainly be putting that to sqa / school when putting in appeal

That would not be considered at all in an appeal. An appeal only looks to see if all questions were marked, if all marks were counted, and if marked to standard (it is not remarked).

@KielderWater

Understand it’s not part of the appeals
process but it should be
the missed topic was part of the History Nat 5 exam
I will be fighting for my son to have his grade looked at due to this error by the school
I can’t except that this was allowed to happen

@8misskitty8

Thats awful
Did you dd get the maths result she expected ?

Did anyone's DC sit AH English?

DD failed, which is a complete shocker, as did some of her peers!

Thanks @Vettrianofan. He's gutted about history but I think he reached his level with Nat 5 and the English higher is almost a bonus. His dyslexia affects every part of his learning but especially his writing.
I know he feels like a failure, no matter how many times I explain that exams are only one part of life. Still, he's back to work tomorrow, in a busy kitchen during the festival and I know that will distract him!

You could argue that if they got taught the topic for 90 minutes right before the exam, that has advantaged them!
I can see why you're annoyed but I don't think you will get anywhere. There are classes that have had teachers off sick, or 3 different maths teachers or whatever.

@ChocoChocoLatte Ds3 sat AH’s, not English but there seems to have been a few shocks surprises amongst his friends. One of his friends needed a B at AH for a conditional offer which was thought to be a certainty but got CCC. He has actually been accepted on his course with this.

Ds got a D for computing science which was unexpected. He doesn’t want to consider an appeal. He’s happy with what he has but I’m thinking it might at least be worth finding out his mark and discussing it with the teacher. Will your DD speak to her teacher about English? Does she need it for Uni? It’s horrible when something like this happens.

@Threeboysadogacatandakitten thankfully no, she already has an unconditional (for which we're grateful).

I discussed it with her earlier and she stated the teacher had been beyond awful and attributes that to the poor result.

I have pointed out the day of the exam results ISN'T the optimum time to inform me of this and she had to take some responsibility too.

We'll speak to the head of senior school, she doesn't want to speak to the teacher, but as she doesn't technically 'need' it, we don't want to take up valuable time from those who do.

She's just terribly disappointed (as it's a subject she enjoys and chose to do) which is always heart breaking.

@ChocoChocoLatte Thats the thing, it’s all so disappointing today. At least she has her university place. My older dc (now 29 and 27) both had similar upsets with results but at the end of the day, it hasn’t mattered one little bit. They both have good careers now. Onwards and upwards!

My child’s NPA appears on their SQA certificate , in fact it’s right at the top above their advanced highers.

I do think the new appeals process is harsh. I see it as a time saving measure from the SQA but there are so many factors that can result in a mark that is not reflective of the standard of the candidate, and this was taken into consideration in the past, but not now.

The sqa will only listen if enough parents protest about the new appeals process. We can do this via our MSPs. If enough parents write to complain to their MSPs, it might work. Unlikely to change this year but maybe next.

@Vettrianofan apparently out of nearly 40,000 appeals last year, only 5 got a downgrade. 10% got an upgrade and the rest kept their grade.

So I see it as having nothing to lose by appealing.