Close Reading: Higher

Some facts about the paper

Time

The Close Reading exam paper lasts for one hour and forty-five minutes. (Date and time for 2009: Friday 15 May, 9.00am to 10.45am.)

Content

The exam paper will have two passages on a related theme.  The passages will be selected from works of non-fiction, from essays, or from quality journalism.  The ideas will be complex and expressed in sophisticated English.  The total length will be in the region of 1,500 words. The length of each of the two passages may vary from year to year: the first passage may be longer than the second, or the first passage may be shorter than the second, or both passages may be of similar length. In 2009 the passages will be printed in a single column. (If you are looking at past papers, you will see that up to 2006 they were printed in two columns.)

The questions (which are printed in a separate booklet) will test your ability to understand the writers' ideas, to analyse the writers' techniques, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the writing.  There will always be at least one question requiring comparison of the passages.

Marks

The total number of marks available is 50 (half of the total for the whole exam).  The number of questions will vary.  The number of marks allocated to each question is shown at the end of each question.

Codes

As well as an indication of the number of marks allocated, there is a code letter to tell you which skill is being tested in each question.  These codes are: U for Understanding, A for Analysis, E for Evaluation.  Sometimes these are combined to indicate that there is a focus on more than one skill – for example, U/E indicates that you are being asked to show an understanding of the writer's ideas and to make an evaluation of them.

Arrangements

Full details of the Arrangements for Higher English can be found on SQA's website.

Specimen question paper

The specimen question paper for Higher English can be found on SQA's website.

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