Exam skillsHow to pass Higher English

There are four parts to Higher English assessment:

• Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation
  • 30 marks/30%
  • Exam time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
• Critical Reading
  • 40 marks/40%
  • Exam time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
• Portfolio-writing
  • 15 marks/scaled up to 30%
• Performance-spoken language
  • Achieved/not achieved

Helpfully, Higher English is structured identically to the National 5 English course. If you have survived National 5, this course will look quite familiar to you. However, Higher English is far more demanding in terms of:

• the texts studied
• the quality of written responses you must generate
• the level of analytical detail required of you

As with many subjects at this level, self-study and revision activities are essential to success. It is important that you keep on top of coursework submission dates and folio deadlines.

At Higher there is a total of 100 marks available to you.

The 100 marks available are made up from a mix of coursework and a final exam. In order to achieve the full award at Higher, you will also be required to undertake a Spoken Language assessment.