2026 SQA exams - is there a thread?

[YouBelongWithMe]

I can't see a thread so am starting it!

Last year my DS went through a mix of Hs and AH in S6 and now is finishing first year of uni.

It's now the middle child's turn - she's sitting six Highers in S5, and they're all packed in over about thirteen days! She's totally finished by the 11th.

Can't believe they've come round so fast.

It’s horrible to see them upset, hopefully won’t knock his confidence for the rest.

I’m sure this will have been asked and answered but what’s the deal with A1 (and whatever the rest of the scale is) - does it get used for anything? All I’ve heard from families with older children is A/B etc.

Nothing wrong with higher maths paper according to my maths teacher contacts. Fair and they are expecting high grade boundaries

Did they give any feedback on the Nat 5 paper please re grade boundaries? thanks

No not yet. It was only on Friday and we finish early due to an asymmetric week. Shall ask on Monday, see what they say

Thank you.

DS seems a bit more positive this evening. Says he thinks he's picked up some marks he'd not accounted for.

Gosh this is so difficult. Sure it wasn't like this last year with his Nat5s. He was so confident he'd got a C in maths. Yet didn't, hence the resit this year and probably the pressure to get a C this time.

My friend is a maths tutor. Says higher was ‘fair’ with maybe some slightly different wording. ADVH paper 2 was tricky, and NAT5 paper one was really tricky, and paper 2 was 50/50 split good and bad x

Thank you for the feedback. Really appreciated

DD thought the Nat 5 exam had gone ok but similarly looked online at the answers posted and now doubts this, thinks she’s maybe a D. She’s upset , just trying to say to put it behind her for now , lots of unknowns and she did her best but I really feel for her . It’s just a subject she struggles with . I wish she hadn’t checked against the info online but that’s what they do !

Sorry to hear that about your DD. It's so difficult isn't it when they are upset after checking online and there's nothing anyone can do.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx21j20l9wlo petition up to 11,000

I am hoping that as the BBC says, the QS won’t want any negative publicity at this moment. Sadly my students were affected by the 2024 Higher History debacle mentioned in the article and they would not accept any issues 😡

Spoke to maths today. None of the maths papers were tricky. None of the wording out of the ordinary as similar can be found in past papers.

This doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Well prepared pupils were not thrown by the wording.

So why are A grade candidates all saying the same thing?!

My child and friends are all straight A students who scored high As in the maths prelim but are now concerned they won’t get an A. I’d say something has gone wrong. No one should come out saying it was easy, but straight A kids getting As in stem subjects coming out in tears doesn’t seem right.

Our A grade candidates aren’t saying this. They felt it was fair. Staff felt it was fair.

My child said it was fine. They were a bit worried why others found it hard and maybe something that they missed but they said they answered all questions confidently so thought it was fine. They usually get a high A1 in maths exams though.

My daughter and her 'maths' friend thought the wording was fine. Felt the paper was fair. Both are A students.

My DC thought the Higher Maths exam was hard but fair too. Just one oddly worded question.

My daughter did dozens of past papers. She studied 8 hours a day for maths in the two weeks before the exam. Prior to that she did regular maths study including attending every single extra study session at school, including the sessions they put in over the Easter holiday. She did all the prep her teacher had suggested, targeting her weakest areas. She went well beyond that overall, going over her learning with my husband who is a maths whizz. She got through the exam but said it was absolutely horrific. She missed an A at Nat 5 by a single percentage point. Her friends are all A grade maths students and they found the paper as hard as she did. There isn’t a single student in her year who didn’t find it problematic, including her mate who got 98% at Nat 5.

This is not about kids who were poorly prepared.

My son said paper 1 was a bit weird and found it harder than usual but paper 2 was easier than usual for him, so he hopes they balance each other out. He did do quite a lot of work on non-routine questions, so maybe this has helped him.
He has found the course hard and is hoping to get a high B, low A if he gets lucky. He still thinks this is possible.

The exam certificate will say A, B etc. but pupils can ask what their banding was. I assume it’s useful data for the exam board and schools.
My son is at Oxbridge and his university offer for AH stipulated A1s. Likewise, they requested his bandings for his Higher results. Otherwise, not used for anything that I’m aware of.

That’s what our school said, bandings only really needed for Oxbridge

That said requiring all A1 seems more stringent than for English candidates as an A 1 or 2 at AH is equivalent to an A* at A level