Are working grades for nat5 basically what the school are predicting they will get in final exams?

[Tumty]

my first child and trying to make sense of report card

yes that's their prediction but the final result can still be different. It can help pupils to up their game if the working grade is a bit lower - DD went to supported study classes, easter revision classes, watched some youtube videos for her subject eg national 5 maths, and we got her some tutors.

No, it’s not their prediction, that will come in the estimate grade, which schools have to submit around the end of this term. Working grade will be based upon the evidence they already have, primarily from any prelim type examinations, but they can also build in class assessments, homework etc into that. So absolutely, there can be a big improvement from current working grade to what they get in August.

Ah ok , thanks. Do you know, do parents/students get given the predicted grades?

I would think you would - at the school I work in they go out in a report to parents. They’ll be submitted to SQA in April, so if they haven’t been discussed with your child and you haven’t received a report, I’d contact the school in the last week of this term and ask for them. Hopefully that won’t be necessary - they should be shared with the students.

Our school has only issued working grades in the latest report. And there doesn’t appear to be any other reports issued before the exams in May. So not sure if we are being told them

We get working grade and target grade

working grade is what they are working at just now

target grade is what the school deems they are capable of getting

The teachers at my son's school told me that they're only allowed to give a predicted grade one above the prelim grade. So they may actually think something different but not actually allowed to put that on paper.

This rings a bell too. My son got a C in his H chemistry prelim and target grade was a B, he got an A in the higher though.

So my confusion is that the working grades at this point are actually lower than the prelim marks that were in November. Often a 2 in prelim and a 4 in working grades.

I'm not sure why there would be numbers. The Nat 5 are graded in letters (A-C)

They are in numbers because these are the bands, not the grades, and the system needs the band to be entered.
band 1 - high a (typically 85% and above)
band 2 - low a
band 3 - high b
band 4 - low b
band 5 -high c
band 6 - low c
band 7 - d

You’re best to ask the teacher for an explanation of working grade. We have tended to approach these with caution in the past as parents can treat them as an estimate and then there’s concern if the grade goes down. It may be the prelim wasn’t a full exam, and they don’t have evidence of the whole course. Or prelim grade was good but not representative of most other work, maybe the assignment/folio isn’t looking good. I’m just guessing though. Simplest to ask for an explanation.

Thanks @ticketiboo I didn't know that.

Every day is a school day

If the working grade has gone down compared to prelim then recent class work must be that level (unless it's a mistake!) They will be covering new content in class so it could well be your dc is finding the current section harder, or isn't working as hard possibly.

On, we get working grade, target grade and prelim mark. Working grade is the grade they are currently achieving in class and is different to the target grade, which is what they are capable of and then an indication of they are on track to the target or not.

if prelims were back in November, then a narrower section of the course has been assessed, which could account for the difference