Do some revision, people

This was prelim paper 1 night – which you know, because you were all there (except Iona, who was there in spirit). I hope you weren’t too traumatised by the experience. I noticed that you were all working up to the end, however. This is good – it suggests that you were taking care and considering your answers – but it’s just as well that the SQA has decided to give students an extra quarter hour this year.

Did everyone know what a Luddite was? This is quite a good example of how a good general knowledge (acquired through years of thoughtful reading or watching reasonably educational tv programmes) is helpful for passing Higher English.

Next week, paper 2: the critical (ie literature) essay.

Don't stay up all night revising but remember that:

* you need to know the texts, including quotations
* you should learn 10 quotations per play/novel, and try to learn your poems off by heart
* you should read my notes, which spoon-feed you what you need to know about the texts for SQA purposes
* you should take care to choose a suitable question – read the first part of the question, which describes the text
* you should follow the instructions – read the second part, which tells you what to do – usually two things, though not necessarily of equal importance – and then write about this
* you should tell the story only as a mini (very mini) introduction and then as the Evidence part of your SECT sequence
* you should remember that the general idea is: Statement, Evidence, Comment, Technique
* the Statement should be relevant to answering the question; the Evidence is a quotation or a retelling of a bit of what happens in the story, to back up your Statement; you may or may not need to elucidate this further with a Comment; and whenever you can, relevantly, you should mention a Technique
* Techniques can sometimes be mentioned implicitly, eg by discussing how characters come across to the reader (without actually calling this "characterisation")
* many students never consider Techniques and therefore fail, because really the main point of literature answers is to show HOW the writer creates the text.
* you should pay attention to your spelling, punctuation and expression – which can easily fail you if they’re not “sufficiently accurate” (typically vague SQA description)
* you should keep an eye on the clock – 45 minutes per essay - about 700 words each, but don’t worry too much about the length – just keep going for 45 minutes, doing the best you can for one and a half hours in total. There’s no point in writing a very long, wonderful essay for an hour and then leaving yourself insufficient time for the second one. The marks you gain on the first won’t make up for those you lose on the second.
* you should try to keep calm! You’re not expected to be a genius. Just answer the questions (keep looking back at them to remind yourself what they are) and remember that it’s hard for everyone.