Can someone explain NABs/Highers to me please?

[AgentProvocateur]

Back in the dark ages when I was at school, the highers consisted of an exam in May. So what are NABs? Do they have them in every subject? Do the scores count towards the Higher scores, like continuous assessment? If so, what percentage?

DS is a bit vague about it all.

Hi there
May need to post and run as DD stirring.....

Basically each Higher consists of units, usually three or four. At the end of each unit the class sits a NAB which they must pass before being able to sit the exam in May.

The NABs only consist of grade C level questions and therefore should be straightforward to pass. The pupil will get up to three attempts to pass the NABS.

The theory is that pupils will no longer be able to sit an exam they have no realistic chance of passing as they will demonstrate a basic understanding of the content by passing these NABS.

Hope that makes sense, I will come back later!

Thank you - that makes perfect sense! Do the NAB scores count towards the final Higher scores? (ie, should I be making DS study more for the NABs?!)

As far as English is concerned, Higher candidates only have two attempts at each NAB. There are two to sit: Close Reading and Textual Analysis. They cover the range and complexity of A - D grades, but they are not graded as such. A candidate either passes or fails, but the absolute minimum to pass a NAB is half marks - a C. NAB units have to be passed to complete the award of Higher English. They do not count towards a mark for the final exam in the sense I think you mean here, but they do count as a completion of the exam and they are detailed on final certificates.

The award is a combination of NABs, folio and exam. The folio is 20%, teh exam CR paper 40 % and the Critical Essays Paper the final 40%.

In addition to this, candidates must submit a folio: two pieces each of 1300 words, consisting of two different types of writing.These pieces will be supervised and the candidate must sign to say they are not plagiaried and that no-one else has helped them. Infringements are taken seriously and if caught out, the candidate will be lucky to get away with just being denied an English Higher.

Re-hashed pieces from their Standard Grade folios will not work. The required sophistication of the writing is far removed from even Credit level SG.

The candidate should be studying techniques for CR and TA as par for the course, which will obviously help with NABs. They should be studying each subject for a minimum of four hours outwith their formal lessons. If they are not, they may be in for a very rude awakening come the prelims!

Hope this covers what you were asking? If not, I'll happily try to clarify!

Yes, it does, thank you. There is a distinct lack of studying going on here, although he seems to be sailing through his NABs. There has been no mention of an English portfolio , so I will sit down this weekend and interrogate question him further.

The SQA don't know the results of NABS, but they do all need to be passed.

I teach sciences, and we give two attempts generally but will give a third in exceptional circumstances, but this may depend on the teacher and the school.

Each subject may have different styles of NABS and coursework, but if your child is doing five bigness then they can expect to have some very NAB heavy periods at school as most schools will do the NABS as they go rather than save the, all til the end of the school year.

In the sciences, we have one piece of coursework which is a practical writeup which must be passed but is not counted towards the final grade.

So for all three sciences, and maths the grade is all down to the final exam.

Hope this helps.

My son got a predicted grade B for Higher maths, based on his prelim, but then failed the Higher outright. He couldn't appeal because his NABs had been poor. He hadn't really bothered revising for the NABs, just aiming for a bare pass, and we hadn't realised they were potentially important.

That said, he didn't deserve to pass the maths anyway, given his lacklustre attitude.