2014 Higher Prelim Discussion Thread!

Is it just my school where the maths department think they take priority over all your other subjects? I have an absolute ton of stuff for my maths prelim to do over the weekend when I dont even need to focus on it too much in comparison to my other subjects

Guys, has your prelims been hard? I have mines in a few days and I really cant be bothered now...

Man, you've been studying for ages, of course you're a bit burnt out

You're probably very prepared. Take a day off, just relax for a bit. It'll hep your mind sort itself out and freshen you up a bit.

I've only had Math, and It was okay. Chemistry tomorrow though

Nah, Im not burnt out, I just (dont mean to sound arrogant here) dont see the point revising as it all seems really easy now.
Chemistry is okay, its just that your school could be mean and throw in a horror ps question at the end like I had in my unit 2 test earlier

Well great. Even better to take a day or two off, then come back and see if you've retained the knowledge.

Those damn PS questions. I was talking to someone earlier and saying that they're the only thing I'm worried about now. Like when they ask you to improve a random experiment.

What about English?

I have not been so raging about the school system like I am the now. SQA have the amazing logic where they see fit to run prelims which will be completely useless in end because appeals can't just be made like before. They put the students under stress which is not necessary! I honestly feel I would benefit more from not doing these prelims and being in class as usual. We instead get a chunk of time in class removed so we can take these ridiculous assessments which many people will not feel the motivation to take seriously. In doing this they add even more stress to pupils as in class they must hurry through their subject and possibly miss little things which they could have learned with the time that is swallowed with prelims.

SQA GET YOUR FINGERS OUT AND TRY TO SEE THINGS FROM A PUPILS VIEW!

Nah, they work in your favour by showing you that you need to get your finger out your arse if you want to pass.
Also revising for your prelims means that you wont need to do as much for the real exams.
If you have no motivation then dont take them seriously, no one is forcing you to revise and get stressed for them.

You might get hit by a bus near exam time and need the appeal, just sayin'

Aye but what I'm saying is that you could benefit from the time in class that is taken away. I mean just recently at an assembly we were told that the amount of tea

The teachers have done the course for > 10 years. They will know how long it takes to finish it and how long they can leave for revision. They know what they are doing.
Plus I would argue that we should have more prelims rather than less, as it forces you to study and motivates you to work towards something.

You probably should have waited until I finished my above statement.

Prelims are not necessary. You claim that it motivates. I believe that having more prelims would lead to an unhealthy level of stress on some people. Some teachers(like my latin) do feel that it would be better for us to be in class with additional time to cover the course. You can study for an hour on say maths when in your house. Should you become stuck at a certain area then you can only refer to notes. If you had additional time in class then I presume you will have additional revision time in class also. This means that if you get in a similar situation then you have th teacher, who's been teaching for over 10 years, to give you better help. You may argue that people can go and see teachers during their study leave but there is people who just won't bother seeing their teacher. This means that these people will be encouraged to get the teachers help if in the class.

Right, you say they are pointless then say they lead to stress. Make your mind up which one it is. If you get stuck on work at home then you have TSR, Yahoo, google and friends to help you.
Are you telling me that you can sit the exam without knowing if youll be tight for time? For subjects like english, where timing is very important, it is essential to have a prelim.
The way I see it, the stress you get will show you how much you need to study for the real exams. If you look at people on here and irl, the more relaxed ones have studied alot, whereas the stressed people will not have studied as much. Aim to master units 1 and 2 for all your subjects and I assure you that you will be grateful near exam time.
You will finish the course on time, dont worry.

Make my mind up? Yes they are pointless, as I explained, but they are also stressful. They are not contradictory terms and therefore I don't need to make up my mind on anything. I have never worried about timing in anyway as my teachers have often gave us timed practices in class. These timed practices are more effective as you don't have a fear of under performing while still learning to get the paper finished in time. Prelims are given a ridiculous level of importance to them when in actual fact they do have little value. In the past they were helpful to have passed and done well in. This year it has been talked up to the importance that they previously held when they are of a lesser importance.

If they have little value then why do you get stressed over them? If you think they are unimportant then dont study for them and take study leave as a holiday.

Because I don't want to let my teachers down. They have no value in terms of your outcome at the end of the year thus being completely irrelevant to your course and have no importance. I just don't want to send out a message that I don't care about the subject as a whole. I'll do it because we're expected to but at the end of the day if I had shown up and drew a cock and balls on the sheet of paper not to much is going to happen to me(apart from telling me that it was a bit inappropriate).