The Student Room Group

Advanced Highers - bit of a joke?

I was talking about this with my mates today in school and just wanted to get other people's opinions on it. Basically the general consensus was that AHs are a bit of a sham - too much to learn in too little time, really shoddy resources and in some subjects, a really narrow range of topics covered - i.e. AH Bio. Plus, the amount of work that you need to put into an investigation/dissertation is incredibly underestimated. This is just what my friends and I thought though! However most teachers I've spoken to don't particularly like teaching AHs or the courses themselves. Opinions? :smile:

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Reply 1
friendlyneutron
I was talking about this with my mates today in school and just wanted to get other people's opinions on it. Basically the general consensus was that AHs are a bit of a sham - too much to learn in too little time, really shoddy resources and in some subjects, a really narrow range of topics covered - i.e. AH Bio. Plus, the amount of work that you need to put into an investigation/dissertation is incredibly underestimated. This is just what my friends and I thought though! However most teachers I've spoken to don't particularly like teaching AHs or the courses themselves. Opinions? :smile:

I can't speak from experience but I'd certainly say it's not surprising there's shoddy resources. Although on this website there are cases of three or four Advanced Highers per person it's not that common for many people to do them. I intend to spend sixth year taking PE higher, perhaps one advanced higher (or two if my work ethic dramatically improves) and if I have any exams cock-ups, I plan to resit those.

I would guess Advanced Highers were designed to be hard and perhaps that's why you find them so difficult!
It's not a case of finding them difficult in themselves, more that we really don't get that much support, and as they've only been running for a few years the tweaks haven't yet been ironed out. They keep changing the format of the exams so some of the past papers are a bit useless for trying to do a timed paper, and get confusing as you're not sure how your own exam will be structured.The people that tend to be taking 2/3 AHs are the ones that need them for English unis, and won't make their offers without getting As(usually) or Bs in them.
Reply 3
friendlyneutron
It's not a case of finding them difficult in themselves, more that we really don't get that much support, and as they've only been running for a few years the tweaks haven't yet been ironed out. They keep changing the format of the exams so some of the past papers are a bit useless for trying to do a timed paper, and get confusing as you're not sure how your own exam will be structured.The people that tend to be taking 2/3 AHs are the ones that need them for English unis, and won't make their offers without getting As(usually) or Bs in them.

I never knew AH's were only introduced a few years ago! Any idea what exams of that difficulty were in place before AH's?
It was the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies, I think they were harder but better organised.
Reply 5
friendlyneutron
It was the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies, I think they were harder but better organised.

I don't think they were actually harder - just different. I believe the CSYS was replaced with the AHs because they wanted to replace the breadth offered by CSYS (which I think covered a few more topics than AHs usually do) with depth, which is why the AHs seem to concentrate in great detail on a few topics. I agree they are badly organised, and I'd have hoped that by this stage (they've been in for 6 or so years now I believe) they'd have gotten a lot better! I suppose it's difficult because so few people do them, so there is little incentive for people to devote resources to making them better. For example, making a textbook specifically for AH whatever is unlikely to be profitible because so few people do them, so nobody bothers to :rolleyes:
Jenn xx
Reply 6
friendlyneutron
I was talking about this with my mates today in school and just wanted to get other people's opinions on it. Basically the general consensus was that AHs are a bit of a sham - too much to learn in too little time, really shoddy resources and in some subjects, a really narrow range of topics covered - i.e. AH Bio. Plus, the amount of work that you need to put into an investigation/dissertation is incredibly underestimated. This is just what my friends and I thought though! However most teachers I've spoken to don't particularly like teaching AHs or the courses themselves. Opinions? :smile:


I wholeheartedly agree. AHs smell!
Reply 7
Acaila
I wholeheartedly agree. AHs smell!


ha ha thats what i was going to say. to be fair adv highers in my school arent that bad since they are fairly popular. the amount of work needed for them is totally underestimated though and i HATE the fact that they are considered on a par with a levels...now THERE is a sham if i ever heard of one. honestly ill just resit this and this and wayhey ive got my A. Naw mate thats not an exam. *sorry* im very bitter about a levels. i think the investigations/dissertations are a bit of a sham though. my biology one didnt really work and i was just left to get on with it basically even tho my teahcer is well versed in the fact that i need an A for uni. ive been doing my english dissertation for about six months and thats it only just finished now. had a total panic about my chem write up today cos i thot i had deleted it but nay, all is well. (altho i think ive lost my disk with the other two on it and im ctually about to cry because my life would actually FALL APART if that happened). anyway yes adv highers are a bit of a cock up all in. biology especially since they keep changing the bloody exam! :mad:
Reply 8
Whats with the slating of every AH. I was quite looking forward to AH Chem till reading all the bad press they get on here.
Reply 9
Don't know much about AH Chem, but as to the slating of AHs, the first post sums it up rather neatly imho.
Reply 10
no AH Chem is fab. i love it, take it because u'll enjoy it if u liked higher chem. (probably).
Reply 11
Higher Chemistry is really good my only criticism is that theres not enough practical.
:toofunny: Somehow I don't think you'll be saying that next year! If I never see another aspirin again it'll be too soon!
Reply 13
We're meant to be going to Paisley Uni to do our practicals next year cause our school apparently doesnt have adequate facilities for AH Chem...I suppose it's a couple of days off school :biggrin:
Yeah, we go to Adam Smith college for our practicals... it's a trip out I suppose.
Reply 15
friendlyneutron
I was talking about this with my mates today in school and just wanted to get other people's opinions on it. Basically the general consensus was that AHs are a bit of a sham - too much to learn in too little time, really shoddy resources and in some subjects, a really narrow range of topics covered - i.e. AH Bio. Plus, the amount of work that you need to put into an investigation/dissertation is incredibly underestimated. This is just what my friends and I thought though! However most teachers I've spoken to don't particularly like teaching AHs or the courses themselves. Opinions? :smile:


I couldn't agree more! But phew, I thought you'd say they were too easy or something, so I was ready to lose it :-p I've found exactly the same this year, and when everyone told me that 3 AHs really aren't worth the effort that's required, I didn't imagine it being like this. I'm bookmarking this thread, so that when people ask me what AHs are like, I'll remember them for what they are. :'(

Good luck with your AHs though! I finished my bio investigation write-up & English dissertation, but haven't even started my chem write-up... oops!
Reply 16
yossarianlives
Yeah, we go to Adam Smith college for our practicals... it's a trip out I suppose.


yeah, that's the way i'm thinking of it as well :biggrin:
Whats with the slating of every AH. I was quite looking forward to AH Chem till reading all the bad press they get on here.

It isn't all THAT bad really. It's just because 6th year holds the possibility of sitting about in a common room building card houses and eating Smarties, and people doing Advanced Highers find themselves working their backsides off instead. Hence we let off steam by complaining about the Advanced Highers that have deprived of us playing cards and really constructive stuff like that.

It does seem that in some subjects, teachers view AHs as 'pre-university', and that pupils should take [a heck of a lot] more responsibility for their learning. However, that hardly applies to every AH teacher and class. My Maths teacher is looking after us very well indeed.

We're meant to be going to Paisley Uni to do our practicals next year cause our school apparently doesnt have adequate facilities for AH Chem...I suppose it's a couple of days off school

:eek: a couple of days?!!!!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: My word, you must be pretty fast at chemistry :biggrin: I've spent the last 3 weeks flat out playing with hydrogen peroxide in the vain attempt to find a semi-decent catalyst excluding manganese dioxide, and it only happened on Thursday, when I had one day left to finish everything off.
But it's all good. Really. *starts crying and swiftly progresses to full-volume bawling*:biggrin:

I think AHs are only a joke if that's how you choose to see them. I personally am taking them pretty seriously [being somewhat a perfectionist], though I do admit that they aren't always tremendously well organised. Then again, you could say the same for some Highers as well.
Reply 18
Well its just that we're a hundred miles away from paisley, and we wont be doing ALL the practicals there, just the ones that we cant do in school. So it'll probably be once a month or something :s-smilie:
mmhmm


I think AHs are only a joke if that's how you choose to see them. I personally am taking them pretty seriously [being somewhat a perfectionist], though I do admit that they aren't always tremendously well organised. Then again, you could say the same for some Highers as well.


^o) I'm taking my AHs incredibly seriously, I have a Cambridge offer to meet. That's why I'm so annoyed at how badly organised they are, and how much I think they're a complete piss take in terms of teaching and resources.

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