THE WAID ACADEMY

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

HIGHER STILL~~~~~

NEXT STEPS

HIGHER COURSE

• Higher English is a course designed for students who gained an overall grade 1 or 2 at Standard Grade and who may be thinking of attempting Advanced Higher English in S6.

• Also eligible, are those students who gained a good pass at Int 2 in S5.

• This course is extremely challenging and a pass, at this level, is a common pre-requisite of university entrance.

INTERNAL ASSESSMENTS-1

• During the course, you will be expected to undertake a variety of reading and writing activities.

• There will be Internal Assessments which you must pass if you are to progress to the External Examination.

• If you fail an assessment you will be given one opportunity to resit.

INTERNAL ASSESSMENTS-2

• As part of the course you will be expected to pass several assessments in order to be allowed to sit the final Higher exam.

• UNIT 1 – LANGUAGE • a) Close Reading - Read a passage and answer questions on

it • Exam conditions. Time – 1 hour b) Writing - Pass at least one assessment using the

following genres; discursive, personal/reflective, imaginative etc. This is done in supervised conditions during class time

• UNIT 2 - Textual Analysis – Read a poem or extract from prose or drama and answer questions on the text.

Exam conditions - Time - 45 minutes• UNIT 3 – Personal Study - Read a text of your own choice

and write an essay on an aspect of the text decided by you Exam conditions Time - 45 minutes

ASSESSMENTS ARE VITAL!!

• Assessments will be retained as evidence of your performance for SQA Appeals purposes or for SQA Moderation

• Absence from a scheduled Internal Assessment will be viewed very seriously and an explanation of this situation may be required by the PT English and/or Board of Studies.

• Students will be advised of the dates of Internal Assessments at least two weeks in advance of that assessment.

IF THINGS GO WRONG?

• Internal Assessments will be regarded as having much the same importance as External Examinations.

• If you fail an Internal Assessment, you will be reassessed at a later date.

• If you continue to fail, you will be advised to continue at a lower level eg. Int 2 or Int 1.

• You will be able to move to the higher level in the next session if you succeed in passing the lower level.

WHAT’S IN THE EXAM???

• If you pass all the Internal Assessments, you will sit an exam in May. This will comprise:

• Close Reading (Two passages, prose, usually taken from a newspaper, magazine etc)

Time - 1 hour 30 minutes 50 marks• Critical Essay (Two questions, must be on two

different texts of two different genres) Time - 1 hour 30 minutes 50 marksTOTAL – 100 - Pass mark is 50 overall

AND AFTER???????????

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!!!• ADVANCED HIGHER IN S6? • UNIVERSITY?• COLLEGE?• EMPLOYMENT?• APPRENTICESHIP?• GAP YEAR?

GOOD LUCK!!