National 5 English – the Exam
and Folio of Writing
Remind me, what do I need to do again?
• The external assessment consists of a
question paper (the exam) and a Folio
of writing.
• The exam itself is made up of two
sections:
1) Reading for understanding, analysis
and evaluation
2) Critical reading
Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation
• This paper is worth 30 marks. You will be
asked to read a passage of non-fiction and
then answer a series of questions on the
passage. You should be familiar with this
kind of ‘close reading’ from your work in
English during S1-S3.
• You will have 1 hour to complete this
paper. It is important that you try to answer
every single question.
Critical Reading
• The Critical Reading paper has two parts.
It is worth 40 marks in total. In the first
part you will answer questions on a
Scottish text you have studied in class (20
marks). In the second part you will have to
write one critical essay about a text you
have studied in class. You cannot use the
same text in both parts and your answer in
part 2 of the paper must cover a different
genre from the text you answered on in part
1. You will have 1 hour and 30 minutes to
complete this paper.
What can I do to prepare?
• In order to ensure that you are prepared for
the the first paper (‘Reading for
Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation’)
work on close reading should be ongoing.
Reading quality broadsheet newspaper
articles on a regular basis will help you to
develop your skills in this area.
Completing Credit Standard Grade close
reading papers and/or Intermediate Two
papers will also be beneficial.
What can I do to prepare?
• To prepare for the first section of the
Critical Reading paper, ensure you know
your Scottish text(s) well. Revise the notes
you have made and ensure you have
memorised a bank of quotations. If there
are still aspects of the text(s) of which you
are unsure, ask your teacher for help. It is
important that you are thoroughly familiar
with your text(s) before you sit the exam.
What can I do to prepare?
• To prepare for the second part of the
Critical Reading paper, ensure that you are
well-versed in the text(s) you have studied
in class and that you have written several
critical essays on each text. Writing timed
essays at home is an excellent way to
prepare for this paper. Look at the critical
essay questions from Intermediate Two
papers published in previous years (these
are available on the SQA website) and give
yourself 45 minutes to write an essay.
Are there revision texts available?
• You may find the following helpful:
• ‘National 5 English Success Guide’, Leckie and Leckie
(ISBN 978-0-00-750845-5)
• ‘How to Pass National 5 English’, Hodder Gibson
(ISBN 978-1-4441-8209-5)
• National 5 English, Reading for Understanding, Analysis and
Evaluation’, Hodder Gibson
(ISBN 978-1-4441-9208-7)
• ‘N5 English Study Guide’, BrightRed Publishing
(ISBN 978-1-906736-36-1)
• National 5 English: Official SQA Specimen Paper with
Answers’, Hodder Gibson
(ISBN 978-1-4718-0207-2)
• ‘National 5 English Portfolio Writing Skills’, Hodder Gibson
(ISBN 978-1-4441-8729-8)
The Folio
• Remember that success at National 5 isn’t simply
down to doing well in the exam. Your folio is
worth a massive 30% of your overall grade. It is
therefore essential that your folio pieces are the
best pieces of writing you are capable of
producing.
• Each piece should be as close to 1000 words as
possible.
• It is possible for a piece to fail on technical
accuracy and you therefore MUST ensure that
your spelling and punctuation are accurate in each
piece. Check and double-check your work!
The Folio - presentation
• Word process your work and adhere to the
following layout:
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a standard font eg Arial, Times New Roman
suggested point size 12
alignment: left or justified
standard margin
print colour: black