School Exams Tuition
Step Ahead tutors provide individualised teaching tailored to the client's specific needs. Put simply this means one tutor working with one client on a one to one basis – working at their speed and in virtually all examinable subjects.
As is explained in detail on our web-site under “The Step Ahead Journey” - “Assessments,” it is our intention to ensure a tailored, effective study plan is implemented from the outset - saving you time and money in the long term - carried out by the most suitable tutor for your child.
Step Ahead aims to follow up assessments by making available the most appropriate tutor within 24 hours.
This ensures that students can achieve outstanding results – as evidenced by testimonials, emails and messages from hundreds of delighted clients!
Many students come to us – at different stages of their school lives – the wisest being those who give themselves ample time to achieve the best possible results!
At Step Ahead, we are committed to inspiring academic excellence, confidence and happiness in our students. We find that through focused, caring and highly skilled teaching we are able to unlock the unique talent, enthusiasm and potential that is in every student.
Each individual tutee works at an appropriate level based on her/his current attainment.
Many tutees will be gearing up for examinations at national levels ( Scottish Qualifications Authority's system) eg Standard or Higher Grades – as below - and towards the new Curriculum For Excellence.
Independent School Entrance Tests
Most independent schools require pupils to pass an entrance exam and, in particular, children making the move from state to private schooling may be unfairly under-prepared for the level of attainment required of them.
Even children of high academic ability may require support with preparation for independent school entry examinations. For further information, please click here.
Scottish Primary and Lower Secondary School Tests
Under the 5 to 14 curriculum, children were working through a series of six levels, known as A to F, in up to 19 subjects ranging from languages and maths, to music and ICT. Each level had a test for English and maths but there were no formal regulations requiring each child to sit each test at each level, or when that test was sat.
Each test was intended primarily to confirm a teacher's judgement of a child's progress and knowledge, by sampling their knowledge and skills, rather than to put the child through a formal examination.
Scottish primary school children are expected to learn at different speeds, grouped within a class with children of the same aptitude.
The new Curriculum for Excellence aims to achieve a transformation in education in Scotland by providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from 3 to 18.
The curriculum includes the totality of experiences which are planned for children and young people through their education, wherever they are being educated.
Scottish Secondary School Examinations
The purpose of the curriculum - the four capacities
The new curriculum is designed to help every learner develop knowledge, skills and attributes for learning, life and work, which are encapsulated in the four capacities.
The Standard Grade system is now being slowly phased out in favour of the Scottish Qualifications Authority's Higher Still system, as many, students and teachers alike feel that the jump from Standard Grade to Higher is too difficult, particularly in subjects such as English. Although they are not exactly the same, the Foundation Level is similar to Higher Still's Access 3 level, whilst General is similar to Intermediate 1 and Credit is similar to Intermediate 2. In some schools which use Higher Still qualifications as replacements for Standard Grades, students are now required to take an exam at the end of 3rd year (either Access 3 or Intermediate 1), and then take the Intermediate 1 or 2 exam (depending on which exam they took in 3rd year) at the end of their 4th year. This allows them to then go onto Intermediate 2 or Higher level in 5th year, as students already do each year. Standard Grades are set to end in 2013 and will be replaced by the National 4 exam in 2014. But – unlike Standard Grades – the easier National 4 exam will not involve an external exam. The qualification will be awarded on the basis of coursework and tests marked by the school.
Standard Grade Courses
Standard Grade has had much to offer young people in S3 and S4 because, in nearly all subjects, courses are designed to match the needs of pupils of all abilities. The way this is achieved differs from subject to subject. For example, in mathematics, courses at three levels have been developed while, in English, the course is the same for all, but the skills to be acquired are differentiated.
In most cases, pupils are assessed by a combination of internal and external means at or towards the end of the two-year course. In most cases, examination papers are differentiated with one set leading to awards at Credit level (grades 1-2), another to awards at General level (grades 3-4) and another to awards at Foundation level (grades 5-6).
Schools, in consultation with parents, advise pupils on the most appropriated examinations to take, based on past performance. However, it is open to pupils to take examinations covering two adjacent levels if there is any doubt as to the most appropriate level for them.
Intermediate Courses
Though Intermediate 2 is equivalent to the Credit Level Standard Grade, there is an element of debate to this as it is perceived to be more difficult in some subjects, but less in others.
It was initially available to pupils (generally in S5) who achieved a grade 3 or 4 Standard Grade but, with some schools choosing to use Intermediates over Standard Grade, it is now more available to S3/S4 pupils (dependent upon the school or individual departments within schools choice). It is believed that in certain subjects Intermediates are more useful to the students than Standard Grades because the work required for completion is more demanding and better prepares the pupils for Higher, with a similar format to the reformed higher exams. Furthermore the pupils are introduced to Higher work before they have sat their Intermediate 2 exam which also makes the transition easier (again this is very much dependent upon the subject).
The Intermediate 2 courses are generally made up of 3 national units; the main exceptions are English, Physics, and French, with mandatory internal assessments in each. The courses all consist of 40 hours. Mandatory passes are needed in the internal assessments or NAB's National Assessment Bank to gain the overall Course Award. However internal assessments are minimum competence, and so many schools have introduced end-of-unit assessments to help stop complacency.
Higher and Advanced Higher Grade Courses
In Scotland the Higher is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) offered by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. It superseded the old Higher Grade on the Scottish Certificate of Education (SCE). Both are normally referred to simply as "Highers".
In 1999, a reform of the examination system known as "Higher Still" took place. In the process, a new style of Higher examination system was introduced in Scotland. The new Higher was designed to operate within a framework of qualifications known as National Qualifications. This was designed to link the most basic examination offered by the SQA (Access 1) with the most difficult one (Advanced Higher) on a continuous "ladder of achievement".
Qualifications offered under the "Higher Still" framework have a common structure, typically consisting of a mixture of summative and formative assessment. Qualifications usually consist of units of work ending in a basic competency test that functions as an internal assessment (commonly known as a "NAB" as they are drawn from the National Assessment Bank), and a final terminal examination which serves to determine the final grade. In order to obtain a qualification, all the internal units for that qualification must be passed, and a passing grade must be obtained on the terminal examination. It is possible to sit the examination only, in which case "Exam Only" will be recorded on the Certificate. In some schools, all units must be passed (with two or less attempts) or the student is not be allowed to sit the final national exam.
