[Kirsteen Nakau]

20/08/2015 at 11:23 am

When can we expect the updated SQA assessments to be available?

[Scott McBride]

21/08/2015 at 8:17 pm

When planets align….

Seriously, I’d say September, beginning or end…

[Andrew Douglas]

15/09/2015 at 1:01 pm

Anyone spotted any changes yet?

[a1an.robertson]

15/09/2015 at 1:51 pm

I’ve looked at the updated Snowboarding database assessment and Tasks 5/6 don’t seem to make sense.

Task 6 asks for SQL code to be changed from Task 5, but Task 5 asks for a user interface to be created. In other words, no query to work with.

The previous incarnation of this task did have a task 5 which asked for green runs less than 2km in length to be found. This made sense as the pupils could view the SQL for this task and make the change required.

Has the old task 5 been removed in error in this update?

[Andrew Douglas]

02/11/2015 at 1:43 pm

Not sure Alan, I am trying to work on that now and also found this part very confusing

[Robert Young]

02/11/2015 at 11:19 pm

Alan and Andrew, the SQA know that the new assessment isn’t quite right so you should be using the old version with the task 5 still in it. All SQA nominee’s got told this in September and should have passed this information out to schools.

[Louis McCaffrey]

11/11/2015 at 3:12 pm

Apologies if this is a daft question but Task 5 (In the updated assessment) says..

” Create a user interface that will make it easy for “Snow Holidays” to find all of the different green, red, blue, and black runs. Print out this form”

…does this then require candidates to create a functional form/switchboard or have they only to create a form design using buttons and evidence this? My interpretation is that the form does not need to be functional and they are only tasked with designing a user interface.

[Andrew Douglas]

11/11/2015 at 3:34 pm

not a daft question at all, I was quite thrown by this. My understanding is that pupils only have to design a user interface – it doesn’t have to be fully functioning. I have used Visual Basic for this for ease.

Also as Robert mentions about (thanks Robert), make sure you are using the old version of this task, as there are problems with Task 5

[Louis McCaffrey]

11/11/2015 at 4:28 pm

Thanks Andrew that would seem to match the difficulty level of the other tasks in the assessment!

Is it only the “old task 5” with the queries included, that is missing from the new updated version? We dont have the old version of the task, and its not avaliable on the secure site as far as i am aware.

Would it be acceptable to use the updated assessment but with the inclusion of the old task 5?

[christine_schofield]

11/11/2015 at 5:25 pm

:Here is what Raymond Simpson told me last week:
Dear Christine

I’ve been asked to reply to your query about the snowboarding task.

There is a small error in the version on the secure site. The first sentence in task 6 should be replaced by “Produce a report/layout showing all the runs that are graded green and are less than 2km in length”.

Apologies for this.

Regards

Raymond Simpson
Subject Implementation Manager for Computing Science
Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics
t: 0345 213 5478 | e: raymond.simpson@sqa.org.uk | w: http://www.sqa.org.uk
m: 07855 086 981

Scottish Qualifications Authority
The Optima Building, 58 Robertson Street, GLASGOW G2 8DQ

[christine_schofield]

11/11/2015 at 5:27 pm

:Here is what Raymond Simpson told me last week:
Dear Christine

I’ve been asked to reply to your query about the snowboarding task.

There is a small error in the version on the secure site. The first sentence in task 6 should be replaced by “Produce a report/layout showing all the runs that are graded green and are less than 2km in length”.

Apologies for this.

Regards

Raymond Simpson
Subject Implementation Manager for Computing Science
Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics
t: 0345 213 5478 | e: raymond.simpson@sqa.org.uk | w: http://www.sqa.org.uk
m: 07855 086 981

Scottish Qualifications Authority
The Optima Building, 58 Robertson Street, GLASGOW G2 8DQ

[Louis McCaffrey]

11/11/2015 at 7:22 pm

Thanks Christine!