26 March 2006 sundayherald 3
EXAM GUIDE
ENGLISH
BY ANDY SHANKS
Andy Shanks teaches English at Montrose
Academy where he has been the Principal
Teacher for the past 16 years. He is the
current convener of the SQA Assessment
Panel and is an experienced marker and
vetter of Standard Grade and Higher
English, the latter of which he has marked
for nine years.
I
T’S time to start worrying about
exams. Bedrooms should start to take
on that wasteland of paper look.
There should be an arty scattering
of weighty volumes open at dense pages of
script with no pictures. In short, it is time to
get into study mode. What is the first exam
most of you are sitting? Standard Grade
English; all 59,103 of you? It is the biggest
exam of them all by a long, long way. How
do you go about this daunting task? What
can you expect to meet in that forbidding
exam hall? Let’s have a look.
STANDARD GRADE
Standard Grade is straightforward. The past
papers you are looking at are exactly like the
paper you will sit, so practice will help. There
are two kinds of paper everybody sits; Reading and Writing. Let’s deal with the writing
paper first. All candidates sit the same paper
– Foundation, General or Credit.
Have a good look at the paper. There are
pictures on one side and topics for writing
on the other. All the writing questions are
like this, apart from those on the back page,
and we will come to them later.
You are asked to write just one essay.
Here’s a tip that really works. Weeks before
the exam, have a think about the kind of
essays that you are good at writing. Are you
best when you are writing about yourself or
are you better at stories? Do you enjoy
writing a good argument about an issue like
the smoking ban or the treatment of
animals? Whatever it is you are good at,
make a decision that this is the kind of
writing you are looking for in the exam and
you will find that you can gain up to five
minutes of time because you will go
straight to the topic that suits you best. Try
it with the past paper book.
If you decide to write about your opinion on a subject look for questions like the
example on the right.
The most popular kind of essay that candidates choose is a short story, for example:
EXAMPLE QUESTION: STANDARD GRADE
Global Warming will end us if we do not end it.
Do you agree or disagree? Give your views.
The bold type tells you what kind of essay to write.
Practise finding this kind of question in the past
paper book. It is easy and will save you time.
Do not try to memorise an essay. The topics
are never repeated. You can guarantee that the
essay you have memorised will not come up. Do
practise the type of writing you intend to use.
Let’s face it, if it was a driving test you would
practise. It is the same thing. If you want to pass
write a few essays prior to the day of the exam. When
you are choosing your topic remember to check that
the essay question you are using is what you think it is.
Do not get the type of essay wrong as this will cost
you dearly in the overall marking of your essay. Even a
good essay could potentially fail if instead of writing a
short story you write a factual piece. This happened to
a few candidates last year. So double check that it is a
discussion the paper is asking for.
Also, watch out for questions that ask you to ‘Write
a newspaper article’. Remember to set it out like a
newspaper and use the kind of formal language you
would expect to find.
Write a short story using one of
the following titles:
Iceworld
Hidden Depths
Most short story writers would tell you that
to write a good story in 1 hour 15 minutes is
crazy, yet this is exactly what you are trying
to do in this question. Here are some tips to
that strange thing that is the Standard
Grade short story.
If you are like me, a visual sort of person,
as soon as you read Iceworld you start to
see the opening scenes from a Kevin
Costner movie like Waterworld, set in a
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4 sundayherald 26 March 2006
ENGLISH
From previous page
world covered in ice, then follow your
instinct and try to capture the scene on
paper in words. In my experience, I create a
whole new movie in my head and the story
practically writes itself. Deal with one
incident in your tale; don’t try and describe
the rise and fall of four generations in an
hour. Think about how it might finish and
start your story somewhere close to the
main incident.
Personally, I prefer small tales built round
small events that might seem familiar to
your reader. This kind of writing lets you
pause a while in the writing and lets the
mind’s eye roam a bit.
“The small girl tilted her head into the
falling snow and made a gentle wish on
every tumbling star …”
Give your characters names that suggest
a kind of person. Not Bob but Nathaniel.
Not Anne but Anaya. We have an instant
reaction to some names and this can help
us to establish instantly the type of people
who are in our stories. It is what Dickens
used to do with characters like Scrooge or
Uriah Heep.
Set the scene in sound and sight and
smell too if you like, but create a world for
your character to walk about in. Not just
the river but “…the stale green smell of the
lazy summer Tay”.
Use words carefully. Don’t use words that
have been beaten to a pulp by overuse
such as “nice” and “good” or phrases like
“right as rain” or “over the hill”. Try to be
original. Avoid lists of pop stars or football
players. Don’t retell the film you saw last
Friday, or try to shock the marker with
details of your wild weekend. The golden
rule in writing is to entertain, enlighten or
inform. I have sat marking many a night
and longed for something to pop out from
the vast pile of scripts that might just be
entertaining.
At the back of the question paper is a
page of titles that are not accompanied by
photographs. These are a good bet for the
creative candidate. There are various quotations from books and poems and very
often you can write in any way you choose.
Lastly, your timing in this paper is very
important. Always leave time to check your
work over. This is an English exam so your
spelling, paragraphing and punctuation
have a significant effect on the grade you
can achieve. You should aim to finish five
minutes before the actual end of the exam
and read over what you have written. You
will be amazed at how many mistakes you
can find for yourself without the help of
your teacher.
CLOSE READING
The second part of your exam is the Close
Reading. Every candidate sits two reading
tests – either General and Foundation or
General and Credit. The format for these
papers is the same whichever paper you are
sitting. The exam consists of a passage to
read and a series of questions to answer.
There are no tricks and all the answers
are in the passage. Read the passage carefully first and then go to the questions.
Remember the questions will lead you
through the passage and direct you to the
right place to find your answer, so it should
be simple.
When you start to answer the questions
you will be directed by the paper to the
paragraph or even the line that the answer
is in, so you end up going though the passage again in detail anyway. Let the layout
of the paper help you. It has been designed
to be as supportive as it can be.
All questions are worth two marks. Some
are 2 or 1 or 0 (2/1/0)and these require you to
point out two things. Others are worth 2 or 0
(2/-/0); these have only one correct answer.
The number of lines that are given for
your answer is an indication of how much
you should write. Remember, in Standard
Grade you do not have to answer in
sentences and you are trying to complete
the exam within the time – so don’t write
too much.
The paper will also tell you exactly where
to look for the answer. Be smart – don’t look
anywhere else.
Some questions will require you to find
words or phrases from the passage but
most answers need you to put the answer
into your own words. Where you see this
instruction in bold type always write the
answer in your own words.
There are no trick questions; all the
answers are in the passage and all you need
to do is find them. There may be words that
you don’t know but remember you can
work out what something means from the
way in which it is used. If in doubt make a
guess. There are no marks for blank spaces.
It is always worth having a go at all the
questions.
The most troublesome questions are on
sentence structure. The best advice here is
to use your common sense. Look for things
like lists and the use of dashes and colons.
Imagine what the sentence would be like
without them. Answer the question by
explaining what the punctuation does to
the meaning. Do not simply explain what
the sentence means.
The best advice of all is to practise these
papers. Buy the past papers with the
answers at the back and test yourself. Try
completing the paper in the correct time.
Try marking the paper yourself. Keep practising, keep reading, and keep writing. Your
folio is finished but Standard Grade is not
finished until the last question of the last
paper has been answered.
INTERMEDIATE 1
INTERMEDIATE 2 AND
HIGHER CLOSE READING
Close Reading is common to all levels of
Higher Still. It is the same skill as the Close
Reading you came across in Standard
Grade. At Intermediate 1 and 2 there is only
one passage to read and answer questions
on; at Higher you have two. At all levels, the
Close Reading paper amounts to half of the
total marks, so if you want to pass English
you have to get the hang of this part of the
exam. There are two things you need to do:
answer all the questions and finish the
paper.
That sounds simple but it isn’t. Answering all the questions will depend a lot on
your preparation, and finishing depends on
your timing and how much practice you
have had.
Let’s deal with preparation. You need to
start reading journalistic writing now. You
have a copy of the Sunday Herald, so start
today; look at the paper and choose a
couple of articles that interest you. You will
be surprised how painless it is. You need to
read a good piece of journalism every day
for the next month. It sounds easy because
it is. It will improve your performance
significantly if you do.
Most candidates walk into the exam and
try to read, understand and analyse an
article from a newspaper with almost no
practice at all, with the result that the
exercise of interpreting a piece of quality
journalism is an experience that they face
for the first time in that forbidding hall.
You would be surprised how many interpretation passages in the past have been
EXAMPLE QUESTIONS: HIGHER
Read the following excerpt from a question
in the 2005 paper, adapted from an article
in a national tabloid newspaper. Some
example questions follow.
ASTEROID COULD BLAST US BACK TO
DARK AGES.
(lines 1-8) It would destroy an area the
size of Belgium in one and a half
seconds and plunge the world back into
the Dark Ages. The giant lump of space
rock racing towards Earth today at
75,000 miles an hour would unleash a
force 20 million times more powerful
than the atom bomb dropped on
Hiroshima in 1945. If it ends up
crashing into us on 21st March 2014,
that is.
(lines 9-18) Asteroid QQ47, two thirds
of a mile wide, was first spotted by
astronomers in Mexico ten days ago
and is hurtling towards us at twenty
miles a second. A direct hit by the huge
asteroid would send billions of tons of
dust into the sky, blocking out the sun,
causing plant life to perish and
livestock to starve. The effect on human
life, too, would be devastating. But
perhaps we needn’t worry too much –
because scientists say the chances of it
hitting us are just 1 in 909,000.
(lines 19-27) Astrophysics expert, Dr
Alan Fitzsimmons of Queen’s
University, Belfast, who advises the UK
NEO (Near-Earth Objects) Information
Centre in Leicester, is optimistic that
Earth will come through the latest
asteroid scare unscathed. “In all
probability, within the next month we
will know its future orbit with an
accuracy which will mean we will be
able to rule out any impact.
(lines 28-42) Others are, however,
convinced that it is only a matter of
time before we face Armageddon.
Liberal Democrat MP and sky-watcher,
Lembit Opik, says: “I have said for years
that the chance of an asteroid having
an impact which could wipe out most
of the human race is 100 per cent.’’ He
has raised his worries in the Commons,
successfully campaigned for an allparty task force to assess the potential
risk and helped set up the Spaceguard
UK facility to track near-earth objects.
He admits: “It does sound like a science
fiction story and I may sound like one of
those guys who walk up and down with
a sandwich-board saying the end of the
world is nigh. But the end is nigh.’’
(lines 43-54) Asteroids have long
been a source of fascination for
scientists and range in size from tiny
dust particles to huge objects nearly 600
miles across. More than 100,000
asteroids have been classified since the
first was spotted by Italian astronomer
Guiseppe Piazzi in 1801. Some contain
carbon-bearing compounds and
scientists think they could hold the key
to creation. Giant meteors hitting the
planet could have delivered chemicals
which kick-started life on Earth.
n Show how the writer captures your
attention in the opening to the article
(lines 1-18). You should refer to
specific techniques and/or stylistic
features in these lines.
1: Use of “It” to open the article –
mysterious; mystery is not solved until
second paragraph. 2: Choice of words
“destroy … plunge … giant … racing …
unleash … crashing … hurtling …
direct hit … huge … billions … perish
… starve … devastating” – vocabulary
conveys violence, speed, power, size
and disastrous effect of an asteroid
striking Earth. (Note that comment on
word choice may be on specific
examples or be a generic comment on
the accumulative effect, supported by
several examples). 3: Imagery (eg
“unleash” (supply appropriate
deconstruction and comment). 4:
Illustrative detail – used to convey: size
(Belgium is an entire country); time (the
Dark Ages suggests the severity of the
consequences; speed/power (comparison
to the Hiroshima explosion suggests the
scale of the potential disaster). 5: Use of
climax and anti-climax – tension built up
to the final sentence in both paragraphs;
use of anti-climax to a lesser extent at the
end of paragraph one and much more
obviously at the end of paragraph two
where the odds are quoted (1 in 909,000).
6: Use of statistics/dates – to convey sheer
scale and/or precision.
n By commenting on specific words or
phrases in lines 19-27, show to what
extent you would have confidence in
Dr Alan Fitzsimmons.
Confidence – 1: “Astrophysics expert”,
“Dr”, “University” – suggest academic
ability and success. 2: “advises” –
recognition in his field; “accuracy”,
“rule out”, “will” – suggest knowledge
and precision.
Lack of confidence – 4: “NEO (Near
Earth Objects) – vagueness of title does
not inspire. 5: “optimistic” – idea of
being hopeful, not necessarily supported
by facts. 6: “In all probability” – not
complete certainty.
n Show how lines 28-42 help you to
understand the meaning of the word
“Armageddon” (line 29).
Meaning – total destruction; an event of
such decisiveness and on such a scale
that survival is most unlikely.
How context helped understanding of
meaning – 1: “wipe out most of the
human race”; 2: “the end of the world is
nigh”; 3: the force of the final short
sentence “But the end is nigh”; 4: “face”
suggests an ordeal.
n The style of writing in lines 43-53
differs from that in the preceding
paragraphs. Describe these two
different styles and support your
answer by brief reference to the text.
Lines 1-42 – dramatic, hysterical,
sensational, emotive … (support your
answers by reference to or comment on
the use of opinions, sensationalism etc.
Lines 43-53 – factual, scientific, historical
… (support by reference to background
detail such as research findings or past
events etc).
Resources designed to suit the way you study
26 March 2006 sundayherald 5
ENGLISH
taken from the Sunday Herald and papers
like it, at least at the weekend. The second
big tip is not much fun, but it is such an
easy way of getting better at close reading
that you have to try it – do past papers. They
are not much fun and you will make lots of
mistakes but the candidate who has had a
go at all of the papers in the Leckie and
Leckie past paper book is going to have a
definite advantage over the candidate who
has only experienced the papers that they
have practised in class. Ask a crossword fan
or someone who is into sudoku whether it
gets easier the more they do. The Close
Reading paper is not that different; practice
won’t make you perfect but it will improve
your grades.
Each question has a code in bold next to
the number of marks; a U for understanding, an A for analysis, an E for evaluation or
an E/A or U/E for a combination of skills
being questioned. Getting to know what
kind of answer is required for each of these
types of questions will help you on the day
of the exam.
An Understanding question will ask you
to write down, usually in your own words,
what the author is saying or to explain what
a word or phrase means in the way the
author has used it. An Analysis question is
looking for an answer which concerns the
way the writer has expressed himself in
terms of punctuation, structure or word
choice. An Evaluation question is asking you
to comment on the effectiveness of a bit of
the passage. Look at the code and make
sure you focus on the correct aspect in your
answer.
Secondly, you are working against a tight
time deadline; 45 minutes at Intermediate 1,
one hour at Intermediate 2 and one and a
half hours at Higher. Finishing the exam is
a major factor in passing this paper because
•
you cannot afford to miss some of the high
mark questions which are at the end. If you
try to answer at least 9 marks’ worth of
questions every 15 minutes, you should get
to the end in time and give yourself the best
chance of passing.
Look carefully at the number of marks
that each question carries as this should
give you an idea of the length of answer to
give. If the question has only one mark you
will not have to give a long answer. If the
question has four marks then you will have
much more to write. Try to think of each
mark you are gaining as you answer. If you
only make one point in a long winded
answer you will still only gain one mark. So
think in terms of four marks meaning finding four parts to your answer. It is not
marked quite as rigidly as this but many
candidates lose marks by giving vague or
“woolly” answers. Don’t waste time repeating the question: the marker knows the
question so he or she wants to know what
the answer is.
Yet again the secret is practice. The more
you do, the more you will see that there are
questions which come up time and time
again.
Let’s take a closer look at the Understanding questions which require you to
answer “in your own words”. Usually you
are being asked to find a phrase or select
words from the passage, often something a
bit challenging, and express it in your own
words. Look for the clues in the question.
Often it will tell you exactly where the
phrase is or at least the right area. Once you
have found it remember if there are two
marks there will usually be two words to
deal with. Don’t just quote them; there are
no marks for this. You must put this in your
own words. You should try to be brief but do
not get hung up trying to find a word-for-
word translation. Sometimes a difficult
word or phrase is more easily tackled by
using several words. “Utilitarian viewpoint”
is difficult to translate in two words but you
might answer that the author is “looking at
things in a functional or practical way”.
Another regular question is what is called
the “link” question. In this kind of question
you are being asked to explain the link
between two sections of the passage made
by a word or a phrase or sentence. To
answer these you have to show the marker
that you understand what the link is. So,
first find the linking words and quote from
the link, explaining how it connects with
the ideas contained in the previous paragraph, then quote again from the linking
words and show how they connect with the
ideas of the paragraph which follows. So
two quotes and two explanations using
your own words and this question is dealt
with. Practise this with past papers and you
will actually enjoy seeing the question
appear because you will be confident that
you can handle it.
A group of questions that you will see a
lot of are questions on word choice and
imagery. This is not an easy thing to learn
but if you are a reader at all you will have
developed a sense of what a writer is meaning beyond the literal interpretation of
his or her words.
Remember that a quote on its own is
worth nothing – you need the comment to
get the marks.
THE CRITICAL ESSAY PAPER
The Critical Essay is a feature at all levels of
the exam. At Intermediate 1 you are
required to write just one essay, at Intermediate 2 and Higher you are required to write
two. This is the area of the exam that you
can put in the most work to prepare for. The
FOR PUPILS
web links for homework and revision
•
FOR PARENTS
an essential guide to
•
National Qualifications
FOR TEACHERS
free classroom resources
visit www.LTScotland.org.uk/NQ
to discover more and to download this exam guide
texts you have been studying all year should
be one of the most reliable aspects of the
whole course for you. To write a good essay
you need to know your texts really well.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that
having written an essay on “Sunset Song” or
“Visiting Hour” that you know it.You will face
a completely different question which will
require you to write a completely new essay.
For this task you need to understand the big
idea behind the poem, play or novel. It is no
good knowing that Norman MacCaig’s
nostrils bobbing along that hospital corridor
is a wonderful example of synecdoche if you
have not yet come to terms with what the
poem as a whole is about.
If you understand the feelings of
helplessness and loss and the wonderful
honesty that comes across from the poet
then you might be able to answer questions
on any aspect of the poem.
All the techniques, the onomatopoeia,
the imagery, the symbols and any technique used by the author lead to one thing
and that is the expression of the author's
feelings and ideas.
So another big tip for this part of the
exam is to put your notes and past papers
aside for a while and re-read the texts themselves. Spend some time thinking about
them and, if you can bear it, talk to your
friends about it. I suggested to a parent last
week that she try to discuss “The Great
Gatsby” with her son: she was delighted at
the prospect, he was not. So it won’t be easy
but it can pay off.
You need to cover at least two genres in
your preparation. It seems like an easy
option to study a poem and a short story
because you feel that that will take less time
but it rarely pays off. The short story is a
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6 sundayherald 26 March 2006
ENGLISH
From previous page
very particular genre and requires you to go
into detail about the way in which the
writer has used techniques that we
associate with this form of writing. There
are very few short story questions in the
paper so you are limiting your choices in a
dangerous way.
The same could be said of poetry. If you
choose only one poem to prepare, you
stand the danger of finding no question
that you can answer properly. The question
paper is designed with the idea that you
have studied a number of poems and several short stories, plays and novels. If you
have done this you find you have lots of
choice when you go into the exam. You will
also need quotations from the texts to support your argument. So you need to start
memorising right away.
With some poems it is possible to
memorise the whole poem. With plays,
short stories and novels you need to
memorise the lines or passages that will
help you answer the questions in the exam.
With poetry the more the better; with the
others I think five is a healthy number. A
good essay should make at least five good
points; if you can support them from the
text you are writing about, all the better.
Make posters of the passages and pin
them up around your room. Read them in
the morning and again at night and you will
start to see them in your sleep and hopefully in the exam.
Use quotations wisely in your essays.
Don’t lead into a paragraph with a quote.
Always start the paragraph with a point
related to the question and support it by
quoting from the text.
Let’s have a look at the questions. At the
top of the section it will say Prose, Poetry,
Drama or Film and TV Drama. Watch
the prose section; it is divided into two bits,
the second being non-fiction prose. You are
still restricted to answering only one
question from the prose section. Unlike
previous papers, the section has a box
containing the kinds of features that you
should try to include in your essay. This
used to be the third sentence of every question but it now sits at the top. You are
expected to cover at least two of these techniques in your essay. In prose that includes
things like character and setting. The questions contain two sentences. The first will
tell you whether your text will fit or not – it
ENGLISH EXAM
TIMETABLE
Level/Paper
Time
Wednesday May 3
F/G/C Writing
9am-10.15am
Foundation Reading 10.35am-11.25am
General Reading
1pm-1.50pm
Credit Reading
2.30pm-3.20pm
Friday May 12
Intermediate 1
Close Reading
Intermediate 1
Critical Essay
Intermediate 2
Close Reading
Intermediate 2
Critical Essay
Higher
Close Reading
Higher
Critical Essay
Advanced Higher
1pm-1.45am
2.05pm-2.50pm
1pm-2pm
2.20pm-3.50pm
9am-10.30am
10.50am-12.20pm
1pm-4pm
A Scots Quair has been the subject of several film treatments. Students should know it thoroughly
might be something like:
Choose a poem which is light-hearted or
playful or not entirely serious.
This question is from the SQA specimen
paper that you can access on the internet. It
would not fit poems like “Dulce Et Decorum Est” or be particularly good for “Assisi”
but would be excellent for “Mooses” by Ted
Hughes, which is mocking and lighthearted. Take your time to read through all
the questions and have a think about all the
possible essays you could write. Choosing
the wrong question will slow you down and
lose you marks. Every year I mark papers
where the candidate has started one essay
and changed their mind. This is usually disastrous. So choose carefully. The second
sentence of the question is the part that
tells you what aspect of the text you are
being asked to discuss.
Show how the poet makes you aware of the
tone, and discuss how effective the use of this
tone is in dealing with the subject matter of
the poem.
This is the important part of the essay. This
tells you that your answer has to deal with
the author’s use of tone. So what you have
to do is plan an essay which deals with
tone. Not tone and a few other things but
tone and the author’s use of it. Here’s an
important tip for the critical essay. Fix in
your head what the big idea behind the text
is and make this clear at the outset of your
essay and keep relating it to the question.
Remind yourself of the question at the outset of every paragraph you start.
So if you are answering a question on
“Sunset Song” and the question asks you to
show how the main character makes a
decision that has a significant influence on
the outcome of the novel. First of all think
about what the novel is about; change,
endurance and the place of the land in
Scottish culture and history. Then think
again of the question.
Chris Guthrie makes a decision to keep
on her father’s farm rather than go to college. This allows Gibbon to write about her
relationship with the land, her marriage to
Ewan and his relationship with the land as
well as the changes that his going to war
brings about in Chris’s life and symbolically
in the cultural life of the country. You must
make sure that this big idea comes across
clearly in your essay. A typical critical essay
paragraph would read like this:
(The point relating to the question first)
Chris Guthrie, the main character in
Gibbon’s novel, makes a life-changing
decision early on in the story. She decides to
keep on the tenancy of Blawearie after her
father’s death.
(Tie it in with the main thrust of the novel)
The author uses Chris’s undying love for
the land to symbolise the Scots’ symbiotic
relationship with the landscape which is
part of the hope that emerges at the end of
the novel.
(Support this with a quotation from the
text)
“…two Chrisses there were that fought for
her heart and tormented her. You hated the
land and the coarse speak of the folk and
learning was brave and fine one day; and
the next you’d waken with the peewits crying
across the hills, deep and deep, crying in the
heart of you and the smell of the earth in
your face, almost you’d cry for that, the
beauty of it and the sweetness of the Scottish land and skies.”
(Discuss the significance of the quotation)
Gibbon sees this split in Chris Guthrie’s
character as being rather like the personality
split that can be seen in the character of the
Scots as a nation, both loving and hating the
work the land represents and seeing
the language – “the coarse speak” – as part of
that toil.
The decision to stick with the land is a significant one in that it means that Chris
comes to terms with who her father was and
the effects of the toil and his religion had on
him. Her realisation at this point in the
novel is part of the process that runs all the
way through it of finding the real Chris, a
process that we as a nation go through as a
result of the war.
And there it is; the question is being
answered, the main idea is being presented,
the point is being supported by quotation
and the candidate is showing a sound grasp
of the technical language he uses and
the point being made. It would be too
pedantic to structure every paragraph of
the essay like this but it would do no harm
to bear it in mind while you practise essays
prior to the exam and in the exam itself.
The safest combination is a novel and a
play but it is a mistake to look for the
minimum you can get away with. I would
recommend preparing a play, a novel and
two poems at Higher and Intermediate 2.
The Critical Essay is also a test of writing
and the marker will check your essay for
formal writing competence before trying to
award it a mark for your answer. This is
something to be aware of as you write. In
Standard Grade, I suggested leaving a few
minutes at the end of the exam to check the
essay over, in Intermediate 1, 2 and Higher
you may not have time for this, so you must
check as you go.
If you intend using words like diffusionism
or synecdoche then learn how to spell them
before the exam. Avoid overly long sentences.
Don’t use a comma where you mean to use
a full stop. Separate your quotations from the
body of the essay so that it is clear what they
are. Keep your writing legible. If the marker
cannot read your essay it will prove difficult
to mark. Remember to introduce your essay
and conclude by answering the question.
Finally, try to enjoy this experience and try
to stay calm as nearly all candidates finish
the exam so you probably will too. Choose
literature that you really like to answer on.
Avoid using your personal study for the critical essay as you will not have had as much
input in terms of writing critical essays. Start
memorising those quotations and talking to
your parents about those amazing characters and ideas that live in the poems, plays
and novels that you have studied this year.
Supporting students from Standard Grade to Advanced Higher