The Student Room Group

Has anyone ever had to retake a higher?

I'm pretty sure I'll have to retake Higher Chemistry.
The thing is, I know the whole course really well!
I simply ran out of time and lost way to many marks.
I'll be lucky if I get a C, seriously.

So, has anyone ever been in this position? Know the subject really well yet have to sit it again?

I really don't wan't to but I need at least a B which I am sure I have not achieved.

I think the SQA should bring in a system like Englands, where you can retake the exam a few months down the line, and not the whole course.. Because I am sure I would be capable of an A. I know it all!!

I passed all my NABs. I won't have to do this again, will I?

Argh!
Okay, rant over.

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
I've not been in that position but I can see it being quite awkward.

I'm not sure, but maybe there is a way to just do the exam without doing the course again, then you could just revise a bit at home throughout the year.

You won't have to resit the NABs if you take the course again though, and you will likely get an A because you will be very good at it by then.
Reply 2
When I decided to resit History this year I wasn't expecting to repeat NABs. Unfortunately it didn't make a blind bit of difference. I had to do the NABs all over again and so did the others who were resitting it. In theory you should be able to just skip the NABs as you've already proved you're capable of completing them to a satisfactory level. This may just be my school though that is so insistant.

At my school it was possible to resit an exam along with your prelims in the following year. This was something you had to apply to the rector and head of department about, and wasn't really offered to you so many people were unaware it could happen, as teachers preferred to launch appeals instead. So nobody bothered doing this, but it was seemingly available.
Reply 3
In my school you don't need to do the NABs again.
Reply 4
I've had to resit four highers. :p:

Apparently they weren't kidding when they said Standard Grades are a world apart from Highers.
Reply 5
Ive not re-sat any highers, because ive jst sat them soo fingers crossed i wont have to do any resits *crosses fingers* lol.
But in my higher english class, it was mainly people resitting, and if they passed the NABs the first time round they didnt have to do them again, which was one less thing for them to worry about.
Plus, im sure you will get a C (:
xo-Heva
I'm pretty sure I'll have to retake Higher Chemistry.
The thing is, I know the whole course really well!
I simply ran out of time and lost way to many marks.
I'll be lucky if I get a C, seriously.

So, has anyone ever been in this position? Know the subject really well yet have to sit it again?

I really don't wan't to but I need at least a B which I am sure I have not achieved.

I think the SQA should bring in a system like Englands, where you can retake the exam a few months down the line, and not the whole course.. Because I am sure I would be capable of an A. I know it all!!

I passed all my NABs. I won't have to do this again, will I?

Argh!
Okay, rant over.


Garr! EXACT same thing happened to me! So gutted, really needed chemistry! :frown: Makes me feel sad to think about it, cos i studied alot for it.
Reply 7
It will depend mostly on what your school says. Your best bet will be to see if they'll let you off with not officially re-sitting the course and just doing the prelim come Easter time as a way of proving you are capable of just re-sitting the exam.

I find this a bit unlikely though... schools aren't often willing to place that sort of faith in their students.
Reply 8
xo-Heva
I'm pretty sure I'll have to retake Higher Chemistry.
The thing is, I know the whole course really well!
I simply ran out of time and lost way to many marks.
I'll be lucky if I get a C, seriously.

So, has anyone ever been in this position? Know the subject really well yet have to sit it again?

I really don't wan't to but I need at least a B which I am sure I have not achieved.

I think the SQA should bring in a system like Englands, where you can retake the exam a few months down the line, and not the whole course.. Because I am sure I would be capable of an A. I know it all!!

I passed all my NABs. I won't have to do this again, will I?

Argh!
Okay, rant over.


i did chemistry higher last year and found it one of the easiest subjects for me since i enjoyed it quite a lot. i had passed all my nabs and i had got a A in the prelims but then in the final exam i got a B.

i went to my teacher to ask if she was appealing for me and she said yes and that i was only 1% away from gettin an A ( i got 69%).:eek:

she said my appeal was strong and should be successful but then few months later from then i got told it was unsuccessful and i was confused:confused:

i should of got my A but i dunno WHY!!:mad:

its goin to annoy me for the rest of my life:eek3:
Reply 9
ik92
i did chemistry higher last year and found it one of the easiest subjects for me since i enjoyed it quite a lot. i had passed all my nabs and i had got a A in the prelims but then in the final exam i got a B.

i went to my teacher to ask if she was appealing for me and she said yes and that i was only 1% away from gettin an A ( i got 69%).:eek:

she said my appeal was strong and should be successful but then few months later from then i got told it was unsuccessful and i was confused:confused:

i should of got my A but i dunno WHY!!:mad:

its goin to annoy me for the rest of my life:eek3:


I really wouldn't be surprised if, for appeals, the SQA just hand a bunch of "evidence" papers to 3 or 4 monkeys, give them each a pen and a bottle of vodka then lock them in a room until they all pass out. It appears to be a system based on luck and not much else.

I'd like to put a revolutionary idea forward to this seemingly unscrupulous intelligentsia known as the SQA: you receive an appeal, you look at the evidence for said appeal. If that evidence is deemed to be strong, then the appeal is successful. End of story.
Reply 10
Pedrobear
I really wouldn't be surprised if, for appeals, the SQA just hand a bunch of "evidence" papers to 3 or 4 monkeys, give them each a pen and a bottle of vodka then lock them in a room until they all pass out. It appears to be a system based on luck and not much else.

I'd like to put a revolutionary idea forward to this seemingly unscrupulous intelligentsia known as the SQA: you receive an appeal, you look at the evidence for said appeal. If that evidence is deemed to be strong, then the appeal is successful. End of story.


well said, the monkey part made me LOL:rofl2:
Reply 11
I didn't do any exams at the end of S5, therefore I redid 4 courses the following year. Yeah pretty much what other people have said, it depends on your school/college. Its super frustrating as I still had to show up to all the classes and my lecturers would often 'forget' that id done the course before and explain every single tiny little detail all over again. Plus it sucks when you see people doing the course for the first time get better marks than you and such. It really doesnt make much of a difference, even if you dont have to do the NABs, you'll still be there for the class time so youll have to put just as much time/effort in. Unless you get worse than a C, I wouldn't advise it. PLus you run the risk of doing it all again and getting a super hard paper that year and wind up with a worse grade second time round (happened to a friend with H Geography) If you go to a college you could do Open Learning, that way you wont be required to attend to classes. Well thats my 2 cents, best of luck.
Reply 12
I retook Higher Drama (cos I failed it miserably) last year, and Higher Business (because I got a C and knew I could do better).

In Drama, I didn't need to resit the NAB's. On the contrary, I was allowed to sit the AH NAB's so I could at least get a partial AH Award.

However, in Business, I had to resit all the NAB's, which was a real pain in the butt. But hey, I already knew the course, so it wasn't too difficult.

Sometimes resitting the subjects was a bit of a drag cos it was really repetitive. However, when you seen an improvement in your grades from the previous year, it was a real boost.
xo-Heva
I'm pretty sure I'll have to retake Higher Chemistry.
The thing is, I know the whole course really well!
I simply ran out of time and lost way to many marks.
I'll be lucky if I get a C, seriously.

So, has anyone ever been in this position? Know the subject really well yet have to sit it again?

I really don't wan't to but I need at least a B which I am sure I have not achieved.

I think the SQA should bring in a system like Englands, where you can retake the exam a few months down the line, and not the whole course.. Because I am sure I would be capable of an A. I know it all!!

I passed all my NABs. I won't have to do this again, will I?

Argh!
Okay, rant over.


We get it, you failed chemistry, but why do you feel the need to keep reminding us?
Reply 14
iaincarinish
We get it, you failed chemistry, but why do you feel the need to keep reminding us?


Excuse me?
I made this thread on the day of the exam...
I didn't refresh it - I am not reminding you.

And besides, now I feel like you're stalking me...
xo-Heva
Excuse me?
I made this thread on the day of the exam...
I didn't refresh it - I am not reminding you.

And besides, now I feel like you're stalking me...


whoops, this thing is 4 weeks old, my bad. but you have mentioned it alot...
Reply 16
I got a C in higher biology after working fairly hard throughout the year and thinking it was the easiest exam ever. I didn't have a strong enough appeal, and I was pretty indignant about it, so I decided to attempt it again so as to get a B or an A. Ended up messing about for a year, coming to class every day and having a laugh with friends and still being sure I would get at least a B since I knew it all already. I did study for the exam, and again I found it easy however I managed to get a C again :| Needless to say I was raging, and now regret deciding to take it again after I'd already passed it. Good banterous year at least :biggrin: And I agree with you, it would be better to be able to retake after a few months rather than repeat the whole year.
Soñadora
I got a C in higher biology after working fairly hard throughout the year and thinking it was the easiest exam ever.


That would certainly teach the people who came out of Human Bio this year calling it "ridiculous."
Reply 18
I resat higher maths with only being one mark off a B! so i was pretty much a B candidate but re-took it and did have to do the NABs but sat unit 1 and 2 anyway and my unit 3 was used from the previous year. I think it did me good, although some things i got taught in 5th year were better than the some of the things in 6th year but its just remembering it. Things i never got so well in 5th year i understood a year later and was scoring grade As in the prelims and extended tests and comparing my answers for the final to my teachers it looks somewhat promising....
Some people from my HIgher Drama Class last year had to retake. One of them even had the nerve to insult me for failing HIgher Drama when it was suggested that I cover the class (Being an Advanced student) in the teacher's absence. The teacher shushed me for the sake of goodwill before I could remind this person that, despite the fact we both failed, I got a higher mark than him by about 8 marks