FYI: Outline of the Higher English Exam

The Higher English exam is very similar to the format of the National 5 English exam:

There are two papers on the day of the exam. Combined, this is worth 70% of a student’s overall grade.

Paper 1:

RUAE (Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation – or ‘Close Reading’) – 1 hour 30 minutes

What will this consist of? Reading two passages; answering a set of questions on passage 1, followed by a comparison question at the end which asks pupils to consider both passages.

This is worth 30 marks and is 30% of a student’s overall grade.

Paper 2:

Critical Reading – this comes in 2 parts: A) the Scottish Text section and B) the Critical Essay section-  1 hour and 30 minutes.

What will this consist of? Using knowledge of a Scottish text or texts studied in class to answer questions, and writing a Critical Essay on one work of Literature studied in class. This will be a more challenging process at this level than it was at National 5.

In the Scottish text section, pupils will pick the text(s) relevant to them – that their class has studied. For instance: a poem by Norman MacCaig. They will then proceed to answer the questions on the text featured and for the last question (the ’10’ marker’) answer using their knowledge of featured text, as well as their knowledge of other works/extracts within the text studied.

The Scottish Text section is worth 20 marks.

In the Critical Essay section of the paper, pupils will choose one question from the question options under the genre they have studied.   For instance, if they have studied ‘Othello’ by William Shakespeare, they will go to the DRAMA genre and select the question on which they feel they will be able to write the best response.

The Critical Essay section is worth 20 marks.

The two parts combined = 40 marks, and make up 40% of a student’s overall grade.

Where does the other 30% come from?

Pupils will be asked to plan and write two folio pieces – one of a creative nature and another of a more topical, functional nature. Each piece should be no more than 1300 words.

Each piece counts for 15 %, making a total of 30% of a pupils overall grade.

Pupils will be asked to submit a first and second draft of each piece, having discussed their plans/proposals with their class teacher.

Drafts should be added to the SQA template.