Talk:Advanced Highers

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The qualification is called "Advanced Higher", not "Advanced Higher Grade". (See comments on Talk:Higher Grade) I think in this case, "Advanced Higher" is an unambiguous enough title for a page.

...but I don't know how to change a page's title...

Would it be OK to move this to Advanced Higher, do you think? (I'll learn how to move it, I'm just checking if other people agree with me that it should be moved) -- Mendor 10:00, 24 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Requested Move to Advanced Higher (Scottish)

The reasons for move copied from WP:RM

Corrects name and avoids ambiguity. Davidkinnen 08:04, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

Add *Support or *Oppose followed by an optional one sentence explanation, then sign your vote with ~~~~

[edit] Discussion

Add any additional comments
  • Supporter

It is correctly called Advanced Higher not Advanced Higher Grade, adding (Scottish) prevents ambiguity. Davidkinnen 08:04, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

  • Support

for same reasons as at Talk:Higher Grade, though I really don't think AH would need disambiguation — Mendor 21:06, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

As far as I'm concerned, I'm sitting my Advanced Highers this year, not my Advanced Higher Grades. It makes sense to have three levels, standard, higher and advanced. Someone should also mention that they used to be called Higher Stills.--The Wizard of Magicland 18:17, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I think you'll find (to the best of my knowledge) that Higher Still refers to the Non-Standard Grade NQs i.e. the Access, Intermediate and Higher (including Advanced) courses. The previous name for the Advanced Highers was CSYS (Certificate of Sixth Year Studies) FeralWolf 11:25, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Errrm yes, Higher still does refer to the entire spectrum of courses, from Access 1 to Advanced Higher.--NeoNerd 22:08, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Comparison of Advanced Highers and A-Levels

I am somewhat surprised to read this article as the tone suggests that advanced highers are somewhat more difficult than the corresponding A-level in a particular subject. Although there is a lack of dedicated reading material for A-H qualifications this is generally offset by the exams at the end of the course being relatively straightforward (easy?) compared to the A-level exams. This can easily be verified by comparing the appropriate exams papers. Scientific style exams will generally have a greater complexity in the problem solving than the AH exams, and other subjects, such as English, generally expect a greater degree of insight and understanding to be displayed in the exam. It's also notable that people with AH qualifications will find that they are behind (in terms of knowledge) a similar student who studied A-levels, even though the exams are supposed to be equivalent. This is painfully obvious for scottish students who move to study for a degree in England.

Should this be mentioned on the main article?

If you can source it, fine. However, what you are saying sonds a bit like original research, which is, of course, not allowed under WP:OR. Hope this helps. --NeoNerd 09:55, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

There is not only a lack of reading material, also a lack of teachers. I studied three Advanced Higher science subjects and was taught only one of them. I must disagree that this is offset by easier exam questions. I imagine that you are correct that Advanced Higher questions will be slightly more straightforward than the equivalent A-level, however you must remember that an Advanced Higher paper is designed to examine three times as much work as an A-level one (one paper covers a year's work as opposed to three papers per year at A-level) and as such to expect the same level of detail as an A-level paper would be impossibly hard. The format is also inherently more difficult (as discussed in the main article) - in most subjects a single paper defines your grade, with no chance to boost it up with better performance in other units (or by resitting some of them) as in A-level.

Furthermore, as an Oxford undergraduate I must disagree with the sentiment that "people with AH qualifications will find that they are behind" those with A-levels if they study in England. While I did notice there were minor differences in syllabus content compared to my peers this was very much in both directions - some areas were given more weight at Advanced Higher, others at A-level (others still at IB). To be honest it really didn't matter- my course was designed with this in mind, and the "playing field" was level within about a fortnight (of a 4 year course) anyway. 81.151.240.173 12:25, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Incorrect statement

The following statement in the article:

(b) the qualification has poorer resources, mostly with no specially written textbooks

is a little loose. There are specially written textbooks for maths. MP (talk•contribs) 21:05, 27 February 2008 (UTC)