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?

@motheronthedancefloor look at the widening access part of the Uni site

https://www.gla.ac.uk/study/wp/adjustedoffers/

MD20/40 is Most Deprived 20%/40%

Two years ago ds3 sat N5’s and got 6A’s, 2B’s, all good. It would never have occurred to us to appeal anything. It wasn’t until later in the year when he received a new certificate through the post that we realised his class teacher had appealed on his behalf and one of his B’s was upgraded to an A. That said, I know “appeals” are different this year.

I plan to appeal his D for computer science if he is within a couple of marks of a C, if his teacher agrees and if ds himself agrees. At the moment he is actually quite happy with his results

DS said he will do the resit but obviously much easier to get the C on appeal if they can to move on, and not have to rejig their S6 timetable again.

Good luck with your DS's appeal too, it sounds like teachers will often do it if they've a good chance of it being successful. Argh, wish it was next week 😫

I bet the number of appeals will be higher this year as the SQA have been particularly harsh. It won't incentivise them to change the appeals process though.

Well, the pass rate seems to have dropped widening the attainment gap. Some questions need ti be getting asked...

It’s the index of Scottish Multiple Deprivation. Look up SIMD map on Google and type in your postcode. If your area is red your child is in those categories.

It says 'other groups' as well though so I'm confused? Which 'other groups' come under MD20 and which come under MD40? it doesn't say!

Other groups are probably care experienced, estranged, carer, refugee, asylum seeker etc (considered independent of postcode SIMD). Glasgow used to give widening offers to everyone on their "shit" school list who completed the top up programme (my DC benefitted) but they rightly changed it.

From the link I shared. MD20/40 is the first widening access criteria based on postcode. Other groups will be the ones shown.

And forgot link!

www.gla.ac.uk/study/wp/adjustedoffers/

Thanks but to clarify, for primary teaching it says:

MD20 BBBB and other groups
MD40 AABB

So I dont know if being a young carer puts DD in the first group or the second as whilst MD20 says "and other groups" they both have a star and the star links you to the access criteria which doesn't really clarify. Am I reading it wrong?

Maybe MD20 is SMID 1-2 plus all the other groups and MD40 is ONLY for 3-4 postcodes but who dont come under the other groups?

No one at Glasgow has responded to me yet.

I read it as carers are included in the MD20 requirements. The link shows what you need to be verified as a carer.

Not pointess; my DS got upgraded last year.

DS got his marks for each paper and one was well below what he expected (something like 50%). He thought he had done well on the paper and he had always got 90% or so up to that point. Where it is an unexpected mark completely out of line with expectations there is more chance that something went wrong in the marking or administration than if you knew the paper had gone badly, it wasn’t far off your expected mark but just below a boundary, or the lower grade was in line with previous performance.

@motheronthedancefloor I think it means MD20. Is there a young carers organisation near you? My DD2 is a YC because of the severe MH problems of her sister, my DD1 and the over 16YC leader says he will help her with UCAS etc. to make sure unis are aware.

She doesn't want to register although we have made them aware (they haven't responded). We do have the young scot young carers package and a letter from the GP and have applied for young carers grant so all that should be enough.
Just needs to get an actual place now (and her grade appeals too!)

I don't think appealing is pointless either. Our DC was upgraded last year in a subject where they had a D. They were upgraded to a C and were delighted. I think it is worth a shot. The chances of success are less than 10%, but some people will get lucky.

That's what my own DC has ended up with - a D. We hope it's worth appealing for a C🫰

Glad your DC got their C on appeal. Such a gamble isn't it.

How many times is the paper checked before the original grade is awarded?
How many times is the appeal checked and by whom?

In terms of the original marking as I understand from a teacher friend not all.papers are checked. A proportion are moderated and then some may be looked at again if a particular marker is not in line with standards. But most are only marked once.

And the appeal again is looked at by a senior marker but they are not remarking just checking the paper has been marked in line with standards- what that means in practice who knows. I would hope that means if they identify it hasn't then they would remark it. They are also checking the adding up of marks is correct.

When ds3 got his Higher maths prelim paper back it had been correctly marked (to the best of his knowledge) but the marks had been added up wrongly. These marks went on his progress report which was sent to us with the teacher noting that he was not achieving the marks he should be. When it was recalculated it took him from a B to an A which is what he got in the actual exam. It does happen and unless there’s a chance of the mark going down I think it’s worth a try.

today is 'recoursing' day at the school so DDs going to see what other Highers she could switch too and if they are shit, stick with her original choice.

Hopefully they will tell her her exam marks too so we know how close it was (or not!). Think its just pastoral care in today so who knows if they will tell her or she wil have to wait til the teachers are back.

other subject options are shit, so she's sticking with her original choices. No one could tell her the percentages today so needs to wait til wednesday boo

Appeals:

There is a clerical check - so say a question is worth 4 marks, we will check that there are the correct number of valid marks allocated. So it may be (obviously tiny chance but trying to give an example of how a clerical check works) that the marker has awarded 3 marks and then incorrectly allocated an indication of full marks at that point - if they have done this the additional mark would be awarded at appeals as a clerical error. Or with online marking, the marks may have been allocated to correct points but logged against the wrong question number. These cases are vanishingly rare but not impossible.

Review - we will check that the paper has been marked within tolerance - this is NOT a remark, but a check that no clear marks have been missed. Depending on the number of marks in a paper, a marker could be +/- 2 or 3 marks from the check and still be correct as many subjects have a level of subjectivity - probably more than most would realise. If we check a paper and there are marks over and above those tolerance that's where there may be a change made. But as an example - if a paper is worth 30 marks the tolerance will be about +/-2 - so for a change to be made the first 2 marks found to be out are disregarded - it's only if the paper ends up at any further difference that a change might be made - so say original mark 25, review comes back to 27 - no change. Original mark 25, review ends at 21 - the mark would end up at 23.

Hopefully that helps (senior marker for a number of years)!

Oh I don’t know what to do. DS got 47% in an exam so a D. I am not sure if we should appeal or not to try for a C. I’d hate it to come back as a fail if, when checked it’s under 40%.

At 47% I'd appeal. A D is generally regarded as a fail so from that perspective there isn't really anything much to lose. We did that last year with one course because we took the view that if a D wasn't going to be regarded as a pass then it didn't really matter if the mark was downgraded to below 40%. In the end, it was upgraded to a C. The chances of success in an appeal aren't high, but someone has to be successful.