[Jeremy Scott]

05/09/2017 at 9:13 pm

I recently made a request to SQA for the lowest, highest and mean marks in each of the components of the N5, H and AH 2017 course assessments. The statistics make interesting reading and it might be worth highlighting the following (that I’ve pulled from this and the SQA’s own published 2017 Attainment Statistics):

 

National 5

• There is a large disparity between the marks in the written exam vs the coursework: nationally, the average mark in the written exam was 57% vs 78% in the coursework.
• National 5 CS remains one of the more difficult mainstream subjects in which to achieve an A grade: the A pass rate in N5 CS this year was 29.4%, compared with a national figure of 37.1% across all N5 subjects. For comparison, Maths had an A pass rate of 31.1%; Physics was 31.7%.

 

Higher

• There is a large disparity between the marks in the written exam vs the coursework: nationally, the average mark in the written exam was 39% vs 81% in the coursework. The highest mark in the written exam was 81/90 (90%), achieved by fewer than 5 candidates; however, 110 candidates (2.5% of the cohort) achieved full marks in the coursework.
• Higher CS remains one of the most difficult mainstream subjects in which to achieve an A grade: the A pass rate this year was 19.1%, compared with a national figure of 28.7%. For comparison, Maths had an A pass rate of 31.4%; Physics was 28.1%.
  This has been a trend over several years e.g. in 2015, the national A pass rate in Higher CS was 16.1% vs the national average A pass rate at Higher of 29.2%; in 2016, the figures were 19.9% in CS vs 29.1% in all Highers.
• Computing Science has one of the lowest A–C pass rates of any Higher at 64.5%, compared with the average across all subjects of 77%.

 

Advanced Higher

• There is a large disparity between the marks in the written exam vs the coursework: nationally, the average mark in the written exam was 41% vs 78% in the coursework. Last year, the average mark in the written exam was 38% (IIRC), suggesting that candidates are finding the new AH CS exam difficult.
• The highest mark in the written exam was 54/60 (90%), achieved by fewer than 5 candidates; however, 19 candidates (3.0% of the cohort) achieved full marks in the coursework project.
• Advanced Higher CS remains one of the most difficult subjects in which to achieve an A grade: the A pass rate in AH CS this year was 20.3%, compared with a national figure of 31.7% across all Advanced Highers. For comparison, Maths had an A pass rate of 37.2%; Physics was 29.9%.
• Computing Science has one of the lowest A–C pass rates of any Advanced Higher at 70.8%, compared with the average across all subjects of 80%.

[Yussef Ghafoor]

05/09/2017 at 10:02 pm

Thanks for that Jeremy, that is interesting reading and certainly in line with our component ratio although will look at it further once insight data is released and I have comparitors.

I’m wondering what impact a 69/31% will have next year but I do feel if I can focus more time on L&T they will have greater knowledge rather than chasing my tail and struggling to deliver all theory content in detail because I am chasing up incomplete  unit assessments.

 

 

[Lee Murray]

06/09/2017 at 8:26 am

Having seen the sample coursework and exam paper, I predict the gap will widen.  With much less weight given to the coursework, this will (if my prediction is true) will drastically worsen the pass rates at National 5.

29.4% achieve A currently.  Any bets on where it ends up next time?  Though normalisation will bring pass rates to wherever the powers-at-be want them, so I suppose those figures don’t matter.

Will the mean marks in the exam still be 57%?  I doubt it.