English
The courses provide candidates with opportunities to develop skills in listening, talking, reading and writing. Language and literacy skills are of personal, social and economic importance.
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27-NOV-2024
Following an extensive consultation with teachers, learners, and literary experts from across the country, a new list of Scottish set texts was chosen for the National 5 and Higher English courses, valid from session 2025-26 onwards. Below is the consultation report.
03-NOV-2025
We’ve increased the duration of the Higher English Critical Reading exam by 15 minutes – from 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes.
The new exam time is included in the 2026 exam timetable.
Why we’ve made this change
We’ve made this change following feedback from our survey in June 2025, where we asked teachers, lecturers and learners for their views on whether we should increase the duration of the Higher Critical Reading exam. The response was overwhelmingly positive.
We’ve been receiving feedback on the duration of the exam over the last few years, including through our consultation on the Scottish set text list in 2024.
The extra time will help learners to fully demonstrate their skills, knowledge and understanding. There are no changes to the content of the question paper.
Updated documents
We recently updated the Higher English course specification and Critical Reading specimen question paper to include the new duration of 1 hour and 45 minutes.
12-JUN-2025
We’re running webinars for National 5 English on the following dates:
- Tuesday 11 November 2025 from 4pm to 5pm – National 5 Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation question paper
- Tuesday 18 November 2025 from 4pm to 5pm – National 5 Critical Reading question paper: Scottish texts
- Tuesday 25 November 2025 from 4pm to 5pm – National 5 Critical Reading question paper: critical essay
We’re also running in-person events for Higher English at our Glasgow office on the following dates:
- Saturday 29 November 2025 from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm
- Friday 5 December 2025 from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm
- Saturday 6 December 2025 from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm
These events will focus on the Higher English question papers. For those unable to travel, there is also an option to join the events online.
Book a place
To book on to an event or webinar, please use our online booking system at athena.sqameet.net. You’ll need a username and password to access the booking system.
You can view our full programme of Understanding Standards events and webinars at www.understandingstandards.org.uk
Scottish set text list for National 5 and Higher English courses (valid from session 2025-26)
Learning and teaching resources
Where can you take this course?
