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SQA Advice

Can anyone clarify the recent news on the update of the SQA process in which they will alter grades of students without even contacting the teachers who gave the estimate. How drastically will it change the grades?

This is really concerning for students, like myself, who are relying on this for university places, in times like these this added uncertainty from the SQA is really unfair.
Hi, can you send a source for this please?
Also I'm guessing that they will be looking at what your school/college usually gets eg, 70% of people pass Nat 5 French, then the SQA are looking for 70% of that school to pass N5 French- so I think they would lower some grades if 90% of people in that school passed French. To expand on that your teachers are submitting a band (not just A band 1, A band 2), and I think each grade is cut up into 4 bands so it would be likely that the SQA would lower the people at the bottom end of the grade if they are lowering results.
I also want to say that if you have been getting Cs for most of the year then your teacher is probably going to up you to a B - depending on how the rest of the people taking that subject are doing-
I hope this helps but again can you send a source so I can read into it.
Original post by Valeriex
Hi, can you send a source for this please?
Also I'm guessing that they will be looking at what your school/college usually gets eg, 70% of people pass Nat 5 French, then the SQA are looking for 70% of that school to pass N5 French- so I think they would lower some grades if 90% of people in that school passed French. To expand on that your teachers are submitting a band (not just A band 1, A band 2), and I think each grade is cut up into 4 bands so it would be likely that the SQA would lower the people at the bottom end of the grade if they are lowering results.
I also want to say that if you have been getting Cs for most of the year then your teacher is probably going to up you to a B - depending on how the rest of the people taking that subject are doing-
I hope this helps but again can you send a source so I can read into it.

Hi, thanks a lot for your reply, this is very helpful, my question was mainly based from this article: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-sqa-we-wont-talk-schools-changing-grades%3famp , it says that the SQA will “moderate the teacher judgements of pupil performance, which were submitted at the end of May, using schools’ historical attainment data and any existing data on a pupil’s past performance” , though as it does seem fair to check pupil records to make it a fair and reputable system, I just think that basing a pupils grade on the past experience of the school, particularly if that is simply due to the type of area the school is in, or the ranking system amongst the pupils in a class as well tbh, seems almost unfair in my opinion, given the circumstances of the year. Especially since the teachers know they their pupils best and their abilities, if this is going towards a conditional offer at uni for example, it isn’t fair that this type of reward system would only be announced after the end of the school year especially if some teachers have said what grade they have submitted, as many will have.
(edited 3 years ago)
Hi I just read the article and I do agree that this is unfair, and not widely reported on so people know.

I can't offer any advice except to try not to think about it until results day and I hope you get the results you need!

Just another note:
The teachers had to submit our grades by the end of May and honestly I'm not sure how closely the SQA are looking at each school. And another possible way that they will edit grades is that teachers would've had to submit predicted grades anyways even if we did sit the exams so I guess a possible way they could look at it is how often is your school correct with these grades. Obviously this changes as teachers move schools all the time but from what I remember my chem teacher saying is that they are usually right about 90% of the time for the actual grade (but not the band). So i guess the SQA might also take that into account but honestly I don't know. Good luck for results day, what are you needing?
And I also agree that I'm worried about what I'm going to get as my school doesn't get good marks in general for a lot of subjects.
Original post by Valeriex
And I also agree that I'm worried about what I'm going to get as my school doesn't get good marks in general for a lot of subjects.

I need a B at Advanced Higher (would have been A at higher but I wasn’t doing any this year) but all of the AH classes in my school, well particularly the ones that I am sitting have always had very small classes, mainly under five people, though with one class I am more confident for the grade, my teacher is really experienced in the AH, always gets good grades from the class, a few A’s each year, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
How about yourself? I hope the results go well for you, good luck! :smile:
I'm getting my highers this year, so I'm just hoping to get as good results as possible and try to get unconditionals to uni so I can relax more this year and just try and learn the info instead of memorising it.
Original post by Valeriex
I'm getting my highers this year, so I'm just hoping to get as good results as possible and try to get unconditionals to uni so I can relax more this year and just try and learn the info instead of memorising it.

I really hope it all goes well for you, what subjects are you planning on studying next year? And good luck next year with your application for uni!

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