Help with SQA higher photography

Hi All! I'm looking for someone who has done Higher Photography this year,as in will get their results this August. Basically I choose it and I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. I looked at the sqa website but it does not say if there will be a final exam or what the assessments are like. So I was wondering if anyone would be willing to help me just clear things up about it.
1) is there a final exam?
1ii) if there is what is it about?
2) what are these assessments my teacher keeps mentioning are they very important? Do they get sent to the SQA?
3) Do you get graded or is it pass and fail for the overall qualification?
4) any camera recommendations or were to get Canon cameras cheap right now?

Reply 1

JustAGiraffe

"To gain the award of the Course, the learner must pass all of the Units as well as theCourse assessment. The required Units are shown in the Course outline section.Course assessment will provide the basis for grading attainment in the Course award." - http://www.sqa.org.uk/files/nq/CfE_CourseSpecification_Higher_ExpressiveArts_Photography.pdf ,

"This project is worth 100 marks. The marks contribute 100% of the overallmarks for the Course assessment. The Course will be graded A–D." - http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/GAInfoHigherPhotography.pdf

I haven't actually done this course, but as detailed in the course outline, you must pass both of the unit assessments ("Photography: Image Making (Higher)" and "Photography: Contextual Imagery (Higher)") as well as completing the course assessment determining the final grade you would receive.

So to specifically address your questions:
1. No, this course does not have a final exam as such,
2. You must pass the unit assessments to be awarded any level in the course. The final assessment is also important as it determines your grade attainment.
3. The course is graded A-D based on the coursework assessment,
4. I'm of pretty little use here to be honest, but you might be able to find a good deal as part of a summer sale.

Good luck!

Reply 2

Blue Hockey

Hi, I’m doing higher photographer this year,
There’s a final exam, its two sections, the first is multiple choice and asks basic questions about camera controls(aperture, iso, shutter speed), the second asks you to analyse a photo technically and creatively (30marks for the overall exam)
The assessment is where you choose theme, plan a project(genre, style, equipment, inspiration), take and document lots of photoshoots(around 12-15 shoots) taking inspiration from various other photographers throughout your project and then at the end you evaluate the entire thing(about 500 words). Then you get the photos printed and you send off the entire thing to sqa.
The project took up at least half of our year 100 out of the 130marks for entire course(20 planning, 70 taking photos, development and documenting shoots, 10 evaluation) and I’m pretty certain its graded.
I’m not sure where you’d get canons cheap, but I’d suggest looking for slightly older models bc they’re going to still be really good but not nearly as expensive.
Hope that helps, it seems like a lot but the exam’s pretty easy and if you do one shoot a week for the project you shouldn’t have any problems with it.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 3

Labrador99

Volunteer Team

Original post by Blue Hockey

Hi, I’m doing higher photographer this year,There’s a final exam, its two sections, the first is multiple choice and asks basic questions about camera controls(aperture, iso, shutter speed), the second asks you to analyse a photo technically and creatively (30marks for the overall exam) The assessment is where you choose theme, plan a project(genre, style, equipment, inspiration), take and document lots of photoshoots(around 12-15 shoots) taking inspiration from various other photographers throughout your project and then at the end you evaluate the entire thing(about 500 words). Then you get the photos printed and you send off the entire thing to sqa.The project took up at least half of our year 100 out of the 130marks for entire course(20 planning, 70 taking photos, development and documenting shoots, 10 evaluation) and I’m pretty certain its graded. I’m not sure where you’d get canons cheap, but I’d suggest looking for slightly older models bc they’re going to still be really good but not nearly as expensive. Hope that helps, it seems like a lot but the exam’s pretty easy and if you do one shoot a week for the project you shouldn’t have any problems with it.

I'm going to lock this thread since it's quite old now, but if you look in this thread, it tells you how to make a new exam thread for this year, as we don't have one yet for Higher Photography :smile: