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SQA - Can teachers grade be appealed (possible error)

Dumbfounded by my NAT5 results. My strongest subject without a doubt is maths. Prelim 92%, working grade 1. Every past paper I practiced I got +90%. I am hoping to do maths or maths+chemistry at uni.

Results

English A
French A
Chemistry A
Physics A
PE A
Modern studies B
Maths B 😮
Application of Maths D 😭

The modern studies was always borderline so not unexpected, but school predicted A and said they will appeal).

Maths is a shocker for me, the school predicted B for both. There is a boy in my class with the same first name, we've only had the teacher who did the estimates for 4 weeks before lockdown. The other boy, with the same name, got 67% in his prelim, a massive 25% less than me, and I always scored higher in class assessments. He got an A for maths and a B for amaths. I think the teacher has made a mistake and somehow mixed us up. SLT says they will look into it next week when the teachers are in.

I hear sqa will allow appeals where they have downgraded a teacher estimate but does anyone know if a grade can be appealed if the school made a mistake?

The other problem is we were entered for application of maths last minute as an extra NAT5 as our class had fully completed Maths and it was seen as easy pass, but the school has zero evidence for appeals. I did the two past papers and again got +80%. I am worried the D in my results for this will impact me. I am realistic without proof they can't award but can the subject be removed in these circumstances?

If it was any other subject I could possibly live with this as these are exceptional times, but not maths!!!!. Realistically this is going to impact me and my uni applications next year. 😭
Original post by BlackLab
Dumbfounded by my NAT5 results. My strongest subject without a doubt is maths. Prelim 92%, working grade 1. Every past paper I practiced I got +90%. I am hoping to do maths or maths+chemistry at uni.

Results

English A
French A
Chemistry A
Physics A
PE A
Modern studies B
Maths B 😮
Application of Maths D 😭

The modern studies was always borderline so not unexpected, but school predicted A and said they will appeal).

Maths is a shocker for me, the school predicted B for both. There is a boy in my class with the same first name, we've only had the teacher who did the estimates for 4 weeks before lockdown. The other boy, with the same name, got 67% in his prelim, a massive 25% less than me, and I always scored higher in class assessments. He got an A for maths and a B for amaths. I think the teacher has made a mistake and somehow mixed us up. SLT says they will look into it next week when the teachers are in.

I hear sqa will allow appeals where they have downgraded a teacher estimate but does anyone know if a grade can be appealed if the school made a mistake?

The other problem is we were entered for application of maths last minute as an extra NAT5 as our class had fully completed Maths and it was seen as easy pass, but the school has zero evidence for appeals. I did the two past papers and again got +80%. I am worried the D in my results for this will impact me. I am realistic without proof they can't award but can the subject be removed in these circumstances?

If it was any other subject I could possibly live with this as these are exceptional times, but not maths!!!!. Realistically this is going to impact me and my uni applications next year. 😭


:wavey:

First, well done on an excellent set of grades! Hopefully I can help in terms of the ones you are less pleased about.

So, at present and in general, the submitted estimated grade can't be appealed....However, there is an exception to this rule where it is suspected that the school has made an administrative error. They need to contact the SQA - details for this in the spoiler...

Spoiler



On applications of maths, the lack of evidence means you're not in a great situation (and the papers you have done now won't be considered, as the cut off for evidence being generated is 29th May). Speak to your school to see if there is anything at all they can use as a basis of an appeal (they surely must have used something as the basis of the estimate!).

About the impact...Do not worry about the applications of maths qualification - generally people do not have both this and maths, and universities/colleges will not look less favourably on you for it being a D. They are looking at what you have that does meet the requirements, rather than what doesn't. You don't need straight As to get into uni :smile:

For a bit of perspective, I've never seen a uni course that needs an A in Nat 5 maths, and overall, your Nat 5 results are less important than your highers when it comes to applying to uni. I can totally understand it's frustrating to not get the grades you were working at throughout the year, it doesn't make a lot of sense, and we've seen that the system isn't very fair, which is why I'd definitely encourage you to appeal...But don't forget, you've achieved a fantastic set of Nat 5 grades, and I'm pretty sure that those results haven't shut off any options for you!

Hope this helps :smile:
Well done!

Don’t worry about applications as uni won’t consider it unless you’re applying to courses that requires maths (computer science for example) so in this case it would be higher maths because applications of maths is not a suitable type of maths.

Hope that helps :smile:

Edit: Oh oops I haven’t noticed that you did maths as well my bad :biggrin:. Well in this case don’t worry about the applications
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by Labrador99
:wavey:

First, well done on an excellent set of grades! Hopefully I can help in terms of the ones you are less pleased about.

So, at present and in general, the submitted estimated grade can't be appealed....However, there is an exception to this rule where it is suspected that the school has made an administrative error. They need to contact the SQA - details for this in the spoiler...

Spoiler



On applications of maths, the lack of evidence means you're not in a great situation (and the papers you have done now won't be considered, as the cut off for evidence being generated is 29th May). Speak to your school to see if there is anything at all they can use as a basis of an appeal (they surely must have used something as the basis of the estimate!).

About the impact...Do not worry about the applications of maths qualification - generally people do not have both this and maths, and universities/colleges will not look less favourably on you for it being a D. They are looking at what you have that does meet the requirements, rather than what doesn't. You don't need straight As to get into uni :smile:

For a bit of perspective, I've never seen a uni course that needs an A in Nat 5 maths, and overall, your Nat 5 results are less important than your highers when it comes to applying to uni. I can totally understand it's frustrating to not get the grades you were working at throughout the year, it doesn't make a lot of sense, and we've seen that the system isn't very fair, which is why I'd definitely encourage you to appeal...But don't forget, you've achieved a fantastic set of Nat 5 grades, and I'm pretty sure that those results haven't shut off any options for you!

Hope this helps :smile:

Great to know they can fix it if (when!) they find it is an error. I'll definitely be appealing.

I know NAT5 results mean nothing once you get your Higher results, noone knows what will happen to schools or to Higher exams next year and if next year's results are estimated again, having a A or B at Nat5 may influence next year's teacher on their gradings/rankings at Higher.

Thanks for you reply, really helps. 👍🏼
Original post by BlackLab
Great to know they can fix it if (when!) they find it is an error. I'll definitely be appealing.

I know NAT5 results mean nothing once you get your Higher results, noone knows what will happen to schools or to Higher exams next year and if next year's results are estimated again, having a A or B at Nat5 may influence next year's teacher on their gradings/rankings at Higher.

Thanks for you reply, really helps. 👍🏼


No problem (and nice username :wink:)
Reply 5
Good news the school SLT has investigated and there was a massive error with my estimated maths grades, they have no idea how, just that it is wrong. They say this is the only actual teachers estimate for maths that was wrong, I am just that lucky. They should have estimated A for both Maths and Applications of Maths.

They are going to ask for an estimate amendment to the SQA to an A for Maths 👍. Because of lack of evidence they cannot request for Application of Maths 👎, but with the SQA now awarding teacher estimates it will go back to a B (from a D).

So results day I got 5A,2B,1D :frown: and all going well that will eventually become 7A,1B :smile: Need to live with the B for AofMaths but at least I know it it should have been 8As !!!!!!!!!!!
Original post by BlackLab
Good news the school SLT has investigated and there was a massive error with my estimated maths grades, they have no idea how, just that it is wrong. They say this is the only actual teachers estimate for maths that was wrong, I am just that lucky. They should have estimated A for both Maths and Applications of Maths.

They are going to ask for an estimate amendment to the SQA to an A for Maths 👍. Because of lack of evidence they cannot request for Application of Maths 👎, but with the SQA now awarding teacher estimates it will go back to a B (from a D).

So results day I got 5A,2B,1D :frown: and all going well that will eventually become 7A,1B :smile: Need to live with the B for AofMaths but at least I know it it should have been 8As !!!!!!!!!!!


That’s good news :smile:
Original post by BlackLab
Good news the school SLT has investigated and there was a massive error with my estimated maths grades, they have no idea how, just that it is wrong. They say this is the only actual teachers estimate for maths that was wrong, I am just that lucky. They should have estimated A for both Maths and Applications of Maths.

They are going to ask for an estimate amendment to the SQA to an A for Maths 👍. Because of lack of evidence they cannot request for Application of Maths 👎, but with the SQA now awarding teacher estimates it will go back to a B (from a D).

So results day I got 5A,2B,1D :frown: and all going well that will eventually become 7A,1B :smile: Need to live with the B for AofMaths but at least I know it it should have been 8As !!!!!!!!!!!


That's great news! Pleased to hear that you got a good ending to this! :biggrin:
Original post by BlackLab
Good news the school SLT has investigated and there was a massive error with my estimated maths grades, they have no idea how, just that it is wrong. They say this is the only actual teachers estimate for maths that was wrong, I am just that lucky. They should have estimated A for both Maths and Applications of Maths.

They are going to ask for an estimate amendment to the SQA to an A for Maths 👍. Because of lack of evidence they cannot request for Application of Maths 👎, but with the SQA now awarding teacher estimates it will go back to a B (from a D).

So results day I got 5A,2B,1D :frown: and all going well that will eventually become 7A,1B :smile: Need to live with the B for AofMaths but at least I know it it should have been

My school has me in for an estimate amendment, though not explained how they are assessed etc. Did your school explain what they do and if SQA can refuse to change grade? ps great results.
Reply 9
Thanks. School just said it was their mistake and they had plenty of evidence for a grade estimate amendment and they would submit, but it would take a few weeks for this to happen and if ok to get a new certificate. They never said anything about SQA refusing, I guess if the evidence is strong they (hopefully!) wouldn't.

For my AofMaths they said I should have an A too, because of the same error, but can't put in an estimate amendment because of lack of evidence at school.

If your school has agreed to put in an estimate amendment hopefully that means they are confident they have enough evidence to back it up and you will get it. Good luck.

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