Higher Psychology exam 2018

What a shocker this year's Higher Psychology exam paper was! There were 31 marks out of 60 for sleep and dreams and quota sampling - far too many to reflect the course and can't be supported by saying the exam "samples" - this year it completely focused too many marks on a small area. I'm surprised this exam passed the SQA vetting process and am sure the pass rate will be very much lower than 50% this year. What a shame for the pupils who sat this - a dreadful experience. Shame on the setting team.

Reply 1

TheBritishKoala

17

Agreed. Hopefully if enough people bring it to light on different forums and social media we might be able to get the pass mark dropped a bit at least. I know they did that for one of the higher maths exams a couple of years ago.

Reply 2

JenPsych

3

Absolutely! 11 marks for a question on Quota sampling is ridiculous. And not a single question on any studies etc. Such a badly written paper and so different from previous papers which were much more reflective of the full years curriculum. I did well in my prelim and in the unit assesments im so disappointed that my grade now comes down to that paper :frown:

Reply 3

Donna86

5

I walked out of the exam crying, I was predicted to achieve an A and after that exam I think I'd be extremely lucky to walk away with a C, absolutely gutting after all the hard work put in.

Reply 4

fabstrawberry

14

Am I the only one who thought it wasn't too bad? Fair enough, the 11 marker on quota sampling was ridiculous, and no mention of any studies, memory or the optional topic.

What did everyone else put for the quota sampling? I think I just said what it was, and I only knew one strength and a weakness so that was it, I've definitely buggered that question. But I was praying memory wouldn't come up as I left it too late to revise, so I was quite happy with sleep and dreams to come up. The question was also very broad so you could easily get marks

Reply 5

fabstrawberry

14

Original post by JenPsych

Absolutely! 11 marks for a question on Quota sampling is ridiculous. And not a single question on any studies etc. Such a badly written paper and so different from previous papers which were much more reflective of the full years curriculum. I did well in my prelim and in the unit assesments im so disappointed that my grade now comes down to that paper :frown:

Remember you've got your assignment which is worth 30% (I think?) so it could make a difference between a C and a B

Reply 6

JenPsych

3

Original post by fabstrawberry

Remember you've got your assignment which is worth 30% (I think?) so it could make a difference between a C and a B

Yeah thats true! Really hoping my assignment holds my grade up. I needed an A for getting into Uni :frown:

Fingers crossed eh!

Reply 7

Cluck1519

OP

12

Original post by Donna86

I walked out of the exam crying, I was predicted to achieve an A and after that exam I think I'd be extremely lucky to walk away with a C, absolutely gutting after all the hard work put in.

Totally agree. Hope things work out well for you. Thanks for your coments and hope SQA Higher Psychology team and the markers take note.

Reply 8

Cluck1519

OP

12

Thanks for all the supportive comments. I'm staying positive that things will work out as everyone faced the same paper so hopefully students will receive the grades they deserve and Higher Psychology can remain a popular and expanding subject next year. I'd like to be able to recommend it to others but had a shock at this year's paper. Fingers crossed that things work out as expected and everyone makes their offers for college and university, despite the "trip wire" set in this year's Higher Psychology exam. Good luck everyone!

Reply 9

TheBritishKoala

17

Oof kind of late reply to this thread - but how did everyone's pyschology exam results go in the end?

I got a C as expected from this specific exam paper unfortunately, but even my tutor was surprised at everyone's results in general as she expected As from most of us.

Reply 10

Cluck1519

OP

12

Original post by breaththinkdream

Oof kind of late reply to this thread - but how did everyone's pyschology exam results go in the end?

I got a C as expected from this specific exam paper unfortunately, but even my tutor was surprised at everyone's results in general as she expected As from most of us.

There were a lot of disappointments in results for Higher Psychology - only 57% of candidates passed with a grade A-C, compared with 73% achieving grade A-C for Higher Biology, 76% for Higher Chemistry, 75% Higher English and 73% for Higher Geography. I am very disappointed to see these figures released by SQA in a document for the 2018 results called "Attainment Statistics" - google this on the SQA site to see how difficut it was to do well in Higher Psychology compared with very many other Highers in 2018. I think SQA principal assessors have questions to answer about this. What do others think???

Reply 11

TheBritishKoala

17

Original post by Cluck1519

There were a lot of disappointments in results for Higher Psychology - only 57% of candidates passed with a grade A-C, compared with 73% achieving grade A-C for Higher Biology, 76% for Higher Chemistry, 75% Higher English and 73% for Higher Geography. I am very disappointed to see these figures released by SQA in a document for the 2018 results called "Attainment Statistics" - google this on the SQA site to see how difficut it was to do well in Higher Psychology compared with very many other Highers in 2018. I think SQA principal assessors have questions to answer about this. What do others think???

Oh yeah I heard about some of them. Like the national average for the Critical Analysis paper in Higher English, the national average was only 22/40 this year around, and many of the people I know only got C in that overall too.

Higher Psychology exam 2018

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you