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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Help please! Deciphering Scottish results

17 replies

Dumpylump · 08/08/2013 09:48

Dsd1 got her exam results on Tuesday. I don't think she's done very well, but I don't really understand what it says on the certificate! Is Intermediate 1 a lower or higher thing than standard grade? And is a 4 actually a pass? To me, it would seem like a D, but I really have no idea. And if you do an access3 course, do you get a result on the certificate, or is the fact that it's blank there an indication that she has failed that subject?
Please can somebody advise?

OP posts:

Original poster

Dumpylump · 08/08/2013 11:03

Anyone?

OP posts:

nothruroad · 08/08/2013 11:16

Intermediate 1 is the equivalent of Standard Grade General level. SG doesn't really work like pass / fail or like A-D does at Higher level / Intermediate level. Grade 4 is a pass at (lower) General level. I'm not sure about Access being on the same certificate - there is no external exam for this so she should have known before she started study leave if she had passed or not. It will only say Pass - you don't get grades for Access.
As a general rule pupils sitting Int 1 / SG General level will not go on to do Highers in S5. They would be likely to do Int 2 in S5 and then possibly continue to H in S6. Access classes are really at a pretty low level and so usually are reserved for much less academic pupils.
Hope this helps.

Original poster

Dumpylump · 08/08/2013 13:36

Helps a lot, thanks. I think dp and I need to sit down and have a chat with her. She is quite happy with those results (is expecting to be showered with gifts and money for them), but I know that if she showed up a bit more regularly, and actually did some work, she could have done much better.
The access subject is maths, and the column with the results in it is blank for that, doesn't say pass. Does that mean she already knew she'd failed, and has just neglected to tell us?

OP posts:

OrangeLily · 08/08/2013 13:47

I think if she had failed it wouldn't say access at all. It wouldn't appear on her certificates so the fact is says Access at all I think means she has passes it.

However, access and intermediate one would not allow her to sit highers but could allow her to do Int1s and Int 2s. What is she planning on doing for S5?

tabulahrasa · 08/08/2013 13:55

If the access maths is on her certificate she passed it as far as I know - if she failed anything it would say so in the letter included in her certificate.

Which level standard grade exams did she sit?

They all sit general and then either Credit or Foundation...if they were aiming for her to pass General a 4 isn't fantastic, but it is a pass in the exam they were expecting her to pass, so not awful either.

If she was entered into Credit and was expected to get a credit pass then - no a 4 isn't great.

If she was sitting foundation and that's what she was aiming for, a 4 is a good pass as it's a harder exam.

It just depends really whet the expectations were beforehand.

Something to bear in mind is that if she sat General and Foundation, she cannot get any award higher than a 3...it's actually impossible to get a 1 or a 2 without sitting the credit exams.

Does that help you at all?

Original poster

Dumpylump · 08/08/2013 15:32

Ok. This is how it looks
Standard grade music. 2
Intermediate 1 art and design. A
Intermediate 1 biology. C
Intermediate 1 French. C
Standard grade geography. 3
Standard grade administration. 4
Standard grade English. 4
Access 3 mathematics

And that's it. I don't know if she sat credit or foundation, but I will ask her tonight. She doesn't seem to know what she wants to do in S5 and is quite resistant to the idea of going into school to talk to someone about it.

OP posts:

Passmethecrisps · 08/08/2013 15:45

Aargh.

I just wrote you a big long reply and I lost it.

Anyway. The crux was that the school is likely to have been in contact with you many times over your DDs 2 years of S3 and S4. Check with them about what her options are in S5 as I could tell you what my school could offer but all schools would offer different things depending on size, senior school policy and so on.

Based entirely on the fact that your DD was presented for access 1 maths I would jump to a conclusion that for the most part she works at foundation/general level. If this is correct then she has done well for her ability level. I am just making massive assumptions here though based on what happens in my school.

Has she thought about college?

nothruroad · 08/08/2013 15:50

I would have thought that she must have already chosen her subjects for S5 and is most likely to have started work for these in June. A lot of schools do re-coursing days this week to allow pupils to change if necessary. In my school all S4 / 5 pupils automatically get an appointment for this, in others it's up to them to arrange one. Have you looked at the school website to see if it mentions this?

Passmethecrisps · 08/08/2013 15:58

Oh of course! Ours started in June and were chosen in march. Every course choice form has to be signed by a parent as well.

Hmm, OP. Is DD keeping secrets? It sounds like there are issues she isn't telling you about.

Passmethecrisps · 08/08/2013 20:06

And I am sorry! I have just reread your op and noticed that this is DSD you are talking about.

Have you spoken to her yet?

Original poster

Dumpylump · 08/08/2013 23:15

She is my much loved but nightmare dsd. Doesn't seem to realise how important all this is. My ds1 is the same age as her, but is asd and a year behind in school, but not in mainstream so I'm not really up to speed on all the changes in qualifications.
I feel that she could have done so much better if she had - to use v old-fashioned term applied herself-

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tabulahrasa · 08/08/2013 23:52

The thing is, with the int 1s and the access 3 maths...I'd assume she's sat foundation as well - in which case she's done ok, not brilliantly well or anything, but perfectly respectably.

She'll more than likely be doing Int 1 maths, Int 2 English, 2 or 3 int 2s from her other subjects and possibly Higher music.

Unless they were expecting her to get credit passes and she was on Higher courses - there's no real need to go into school and talk to them. There's no way on earth she'd be doing Higher for anything she sat Int 1 or did Access 3 for, so that only leaves 3 courses that could be changed if she did much worse than they were expecting her to and even then a lot of schools do combined Int 2 and Higher classes anyway and just put some of the class in for one exam and some in for the other. (especially in English or social subjects with a low take up which sometimes Geography is)

So she's probably bang on track and doesn't need to speak to anybody and unless there were any shock results she'll already have started her new timetable before they broke up.

Original poster

Dumpylump · 09/08/2013 00:21

She did start her new timetable about 3 weeks before the holidays...I'm not sure what she's doing in S5, and I had no chance to talk to her tonight as she was out with her boyfriend til late. Will try and have a chat with her tomorrow....just for some clarification, and a chance to find out what she's hoping to get out of her next year at school.
Thank you all so much.

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Preferthedogtothekids · 09/08/2013 10:17

If you're old (like me) and feel the need to convert grades into the old A-D 'O' grade system, then I suspect her marks would look something like this...

Standard grade music. B
Intermediate 1 art and design. D-ish (maybe a C)
Intermediate 1 biology. low C-ish
Intermediate 1 French. low C-ish
Standard grade geography. C-ish
Standard grade administration. D
Standard grade English. D
Access 3 mathematics Not a pass, somewhere below a D I think?

I'm not sure the different exams are all directly comparable, but I have seen some of the content of the exams and certainly the Int 1 courses are relatively basic as is Access 3. She does have one credit grade in music which is good, and she seems to have grasped the basics of some of the others. Unfortunately English and Maths (the core skills) seemed to have slipped and maybe that's what she needs to concentrate on over the next year to give colleges and employers more confidence in her abilities.

Original poster

Dumpylump · 10/08/2013 10:29

Thank you so much Preferthedog I think that is exactly how I needed to have it explained so that I could get my head round just how she was doing (answer - not great). I am indeed, very old, and just not up to speed on the current system.
Ds2 and dsd2 are just going into S2 though, so I will need to get to grips with it v soon.....although with Curriculum for Excellence, it's all changing again!
I'm disappointed for dsd1 - she hates school, and will bunk off given half the chance, but she's not stupid at all, and if she would work a bit, could've done loads better.

She won't be 16 til January, so can't leave school til Christmas - I believe she could have gone to college (there is one here), but she wouldn't look at possible courses, or come to their Open Day, or do anything at all to find out.

OP posts:

Preferthedogtothekids · 10/08/2013 11:16

I know that many will disagree, but I think the CforE is possibly easier to understand. Brighter kids will take National 5 and probably go onto higher education, while the less able kids will take national 4s and take a more vocational route. The grades for National 5 will be given in A-C and the National 4s will be a pass/fail. I suspect most kids will pass at Nat 4 since their teachers will be setting and marking and will do all they can to get them a pass, I don't mean cheating, but certainly I believe they will provide enough opportunities to help them pass.

My daughter is on course to do 8 Nat 5s. I think she'll probably get As or Bs in them all (based on current attainment) so the new system doesn't worry me too much and I think her results will be pretty comparable to Standard grades, or even the O grade system.

If it helps, I didn't do well at school. I was bright enough but I didn't have the maturity to see the relevance of good results at the time. I left with 5 O grades at A-C and spent the next 6 years wandering between different jobs that I didn't enjoy or get engaged by. I started nurse training at 22 (I had just enough O grades to get in by a squeak!) and took the course with much more maturity. I went on to graduate with a BSc at 31 after top up modules. Lifelong learning is the way to go for some people.

tabulahrasa · 10/08/2013 12:02

"Thank you so much Preferthedog I think that is exactly how I needed to have it explained so that I could get my head round just how she was doing"

I couldn't have explained that - because I sat Standard Grades too, lol.

"I know that many will disagree, but I think the CforE is possibly easier to understand."

The final levels are...not so much the rest of it, lol.

As preferthedog points out, school isn't when some people shine - I was a dreaded Christmas leaver, habitual truant and left school with 3 standard grade passes, only one of them at credit level. As an adult I've done Highers, and access course and an honours degree.

School is important and it's massively frustrating to watch someone you care about not achieve their potential, but, she may realize when she's older that she's capable of more.

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