Exams 2024 appeals

[HGC2]

Lots going on in the original exam thread but thought I’d start one only for appeals as I’m curious how many of our DCs will be successful.

Mine submitted one for chemistry today, took 2 minutes online

No success for DD in English or History. She was only 2 marks off Bs in both of them.

Apparently the school are phoning parents to let them know the results of appeals.

I had a missed call at lunchtime today, phoned back and school office doesn’t know who phoned me or why. No one phoned me back and they only tried my mobile not DH’s or the house number.
So none the wiser here !!

Still nothing here! Have they all come out or is it by subject? We're waiting on Art and Design. I told DD to ask her guidance teacher but she forgot and we're in Edinburgh so half days on Fridays.

Successful appeal for AH English from a d to a c, no idea how close she was.
Pleased she now has a pass but I’ve no trust in the sqa and the total lack of transparency.

Surely they wouldn’t phone to say it was a no?!

sounds positive

Great news

I agree what a mess it has all been. my son was OK as his appeal was AH maths which he got a B in, but they reintroduced things into the syllabus they had removed during Covid so they appeared in AH with no grounding. He’s doing maths at
Uni and doing well but his confidence has taken a knock, he was hoping for an A1.

I'm so sorry for your DD, but if she has done well in all her other subjects all is not lost. She tried her best and gave it her all. That's ultimately all we can ask of our DC.

Massive congratulations too to your DC🥳🥳🥳

Finally got word from school. Nat 5 Art and Design upgraded from C to a B! It was definitely worth appealing since she was only one point off the boundary.

Congratulations to your DC, that's fantastic news🥳🥳

I am looking forward to reading the statistics of the appeals for 2024 compared to 2023. Just to see how many were upgraded, stayed the same or downgraded.

School never phoned back and no call today.

DD wasn’t told anything by the school today either 🤷🏻‍♀️ but I think the deputy that is the sqa liaison only works part week.

It’s really annoying that the sqa doesn’t tell the student only the school.

@Vettrianofan Thanks! I'm interested in the stats too because just anecdotally from this thread it sounds like more were upgraded than last year.
@8misskitty8 I emailed guidance who emailed me back immediately with results today.

Sorry in all the hype and excitement I didn't read the email properly 😅, it was the school's deputy head who emailed me the good news. Not sure why I assumed it was the SQA - they're not that efficient 🙈

As others have said though, it seems schools just weren't prepared for the appeals results being released last week.

Guidance and the school in general are terrible for replying to emails.
School office had no idea who called or why but said they would contact her guidance teacher to say I had called.
But no one phoned me back.

No change on either of my DD’s appeals. Bit disappointed that her History didn’t up a grade but it was always a long shot. Well done everyone who got the results they wanted.

I'm particularly keen to see the figure for Higher History appeals this year compared to last.

Is there any news on the SQA investigation into higher history? Are the conclusions to be made public?

I'm waiting to hear the outcome too but don't hold out much hope of change as they've released the appeals before the investigation was even concluded - you'd think they'd hold off, so that doesn't inspire much hope for the outcome.

They were meant to finish the investigation over a week ago so either they're holding off as they've found something they need to action, or they're holding off because they're trying to find a way to cover it up...

I think its an investigation for appearances sake, nothing else.

Sadly, I suspect you are right although I would love to be proved wrong.

Remember appeals are not a remark, they are just checking for errors in missed marking and ensuring it is marked to the standard set in Spring.

When it comes to history, if there were to be any changes to the marking then this could not be applied just to those appealing, it would have to apply to everyone. I don’t think that is likely to happen.

It just seems so unfair to the students. I know the SQA was reducing the pass rate to bring it back to 2019 levels, but to reduce it by almost 13% in a year seems very harsh when other subjects were closer to 3%.

DC didn't do any appeals as was overall pretty happy with his results (beyond what he needed), however came home the other day telling me about the lack of overall success with appeals within the school - pretty sure it was either none or very close to none that were upgraded!

Just double checked and it was indeed none!

My DD had at least 2 possibly 3 in her school that went from B to A in Higher English. That’s all she knows about. Her friend didn’t get upgraded for H Chemistry neither did she.

Agree, if there is an issue found with history they’d probably be best to adjust the grade boundary across the board. I doubt anything will come of the “review”, though.