Higher English

1
Higher English

• An Introduction to the Course

2
Higher English

• Course Assessment
• Writing Portfolio- marked out of 30 (15 each )
  30
• Reading for U, A and E exam- marked out of 30
  30
• Critical Reading Exam 40 One Critical Essay.
  20
• - Scottish Text
  Question. 20
• Exactly the same external assessment structure as
  Nat 5.

3
Writing Portfolio

• 2 pieces 1 broadly creative 1 broadly
  discursive
• Creative personal/reflective/imaginative.
• Discursive argumentative, persuasive.
• Each piece marked out of 15
• Max 1300 words taken seriously.
• Teacher support restricted focus on students
  working independently in an atmosphere that
  guarantees authenticity of the piece. Plagiarism
  will mean withdrawal of candidate by SQA.

4
Reading for U,A,E

• Two non-fiction passages.
• Length of passage /timing 1 hour 30 mins
• Total 30 marks.
• Questions are focused on the first passage, with
  only using the second passage for a comparison
  question.
• Types of questions include summarising,
  comparing, contrasting skills, writers attitude,
  language and the effectiveness of endings.
• Reference Specimen paper.

5
What sort of Scottish text question will pupils
face in the exam?

• At Nat 5 students studied an extract from a play,
  and at Higher students will study six poems by
  Carol Ann Duffy.
• One of the six poems will be given in the exam.
  10 marks will be awarded for work on the given
  poem (tends to be 2,3 or 4 mark questions.)
• A further 10 marks are awarded in a final
  comparison question showing understanding of
  links between the poem given in the exam and the
  other Duffy poems studied.
• This work will be undertaken during Term 1
  August October.

6
Critical Essay

• Comes after Scottish text question in exam paper
• 3 questions per genre section. One question and
  essay in 45 minutes.
• Prose and Drama will be studied in class over
  Terms 2 and 3.
• Poetry cannot be used for the Critical Essay, as
  Poetry is being used for the Scottish Text
  Question.

7
Internal Assessment

• As with the National 5 course, pupils need to
  demonstrate competency in Reading, Writing,
  Talking and Listening in order to achieve the
  course award.

8
How will this be Internally assessed?

• Reading The assessment will come from looking at
  an unseen poem and answering questions on it.
  There will be opportunities to achieve this
  outcome during Term 1.
• Writing The Discursive essay that students will
  research and write in June will be used as the
  internal assessment for the Writing element.
• Talking The Discursive essay will be used as the
  basis for a Solo Talk, which will be delivered in
  August.
• Listening The Listening unit and assessment will
  be delivered during Term 2 October to December.

9
Expectations and Support

• The leap from National 5 to Higher is
  significant with more sophisticated texts and
  greater expectations of analysis and evaluation
  of language.
• You will be expected to set targets for yourself
  from the start of the year, and evaluate your
  progress and next steps at regular intervals
  during the course.
• Regular reading of quality fiction and
  non-fiction texts will help to improve your
  understanding, vocabulary and ease of working
  with text.
• Supported study will run from January, with
  limited places available for those most in need.
  Easter Revision Booklets will be provided.
• Teachers will expect you to be consolidating
  knowledge at home every week throughout the year.
  Activities at home will include reading of
  class texts - making notes and gathering
  quotations making mind maps in response to
  essay questions reading quality broadsheet
  journalism and analysing techniques researching
  topics and gathering sources for folio work and
  practising solo talks.

10
Useful Resources
Hodder Gibson Support Books New Leckie and
Leckie Grade A Booster Book.
SQA Information and Past Papers
http//www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/47904.html BBC Bitesize
Carol Ann Duffy http//www.bbc.co.uk/education/top
ics/zghtyrd