Nat 4 amp; 5 - can anyone help?

jenmac: Just looked at Nat 4 and 5 course specs for my subject and feeling a bit confused. Can anyone confirm: will most pupils have completed Nat 4 by the end of S3? Then if they choose to continue your subject they would do Nat 5 in S4? Or is the idea that the more able will complete Nat 5 by end of S3, then move on to Nat 6 and 7?

holdingon: They either do 4 or 5 - not both.

lookinglost: You do not have to do N4 assessment (is it internally assessed for all subjects, not just mine?) before you do N5. Instead, I believe you just work through L4 and then do your N5. Doing Highers in S4 could have consequences on uni entrance, as sometimes they ask for Highers to be done at one sitting.

holdingon: Some schools plan to do Nat 4 and 5 from the beginning of S3, meaning they can still do eight subjects - do we really want 15-year-olds only doing five subjects in S4?

its_like_omg: I don’t want them doing only five in S4, but the rest of the staff in my school don’t seem to think about it at all, which is the worrying thing. I think we are going to end up with six. Parents, pupils and classroom teachers have not been asked, of course.

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