How much studying should you be doing outwith school time for your Highers?

So school starts back tomorrow and this year I would like to make more effort. I'm not someone who needs to do an awful lot of studying, I basically studied the day before all my N5 exams and got 6 A's and 3 B's, which is pretty good considering how little I did but I was capable of 9 A's and this year I don't want to make the same mistake.
So yeah how much studying should I be doing for my Highers outwith school time? Our prelims are in January so when should I start seriously studying for them? Any advice is appreciated.

The first time I remember seriously studying for Highers was during the October break, when I was doing past papers on topics we'd covered in all my subjects and beginning to re-write my notes from the beginning and making flash cards, etc.

I would say don't start stressing/studying a lot immediately, because then you're at risk of burning out too soon, but definitely start the past paper questions during - if not before - October. I think before the new year I was spending a couple hours (3/4) studying at the weekends, then after the new year when the pace picked up I was probably at double that. It is a lot of hard work, but I'd definitely say you're capable if you did so well in your nat 5's

I'd also recommend buying the How To Pass / BrightRed study guides if you haven't already and try and read through the topics before you learn them in class, so you have an existing idea on what it is you're learning about, and it should make it easier to understand when you're getting taught.

Highers are a lot more demanding than nat 5's, so basically the sooner you get started, the more prepared you'll be and the better you'll do in the long run.

Good luck!

So school starts back tomorrow and this year I would like to make more effort. I'm not someone who needs to do an awful lot of studying, I basically studied the day before all my N5 exams and got 6 A's and 3 B's, which is pretty good considering how little I did but I was capable of 9 A's and this year I don't want to make the same mistake.
So yeah how much studying should I be doing for my Highers outwith school time? Our prelims are in January so when should I start seriously studying for them? Any advice is appreciated.

I mean everyone is diff so just start when u feel the need to. But judging from your post I'd say perhaps a couple hours before the exam.

My teachers said 2hrs a day extra revision- tbh I didn't do that (more like half an hour a day + tons of homework). So just revise a lot during holidays.exam leave and you should be fine.

2 hours in total I assume? not per subject? Seems like a good amount but yeah I will see how it goes and how much homework I get.

Yeah 2 hours general revision in total, can be a mix of different subjects. I think it can be a good way to reconsolidate what you have learnt in class. But if you are given a lot of homework already then I say don't bother that much.

Edit: Also don't get too stressed about prelims, they hardly matter anymore. Pace yourself throughout the year so you can get good grades in the final exams.

Yeah 2 hours a day seems like a pretty good amount depending on how much homework I have and I agree that prelims don't really have much of a purpose since you can't appeal anymore unfortunately.
Thank you!

I did 2 hours of revision everyday and until mid November time I started properly revising for my prelims. For exams I started revising end of february/start of March and came out with good results, but I definitely wouldn't recommend revising a day before your higher exams aha

Remember, It's not about much time you study but rather the quality of your studying time.


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It really depends on the person. I didn't revise for my Standard Grades due to illness and walked out with 2's and 3's. I returned to college last year and I sat two Highers; English and Psychology and Nat 5 Maths as it's what I needed for the courses I was looking at.

I knew that I would need to revise as I had been out of the education system for 12 years. But, maths was by far my worst subject. I actually didn't revise for English (got a B, but had A in prelim) or Psychology (got an A with 88/100 marks) and put all my time into maths (averagely 3-4 hours 5 days a week starting about 4 weeks before the exam) and got my B (which I needed).

However, my friend was doing 4 hours a night split up over her three subjects for 6 days a week from about December. But that's what worked for her.

I would say that to get really good grades like 5A's then you should study steadily throughout the year using 'How to Pass' books as well past papers. How to Pass are awesome for your notes and give you example answers- I can't praise them enough!!

Personally I did 4 highers, I only revised the week before the prelims and got BBBB, then revised around 4 hours per day from that point until my actual exams and got AAAC (so take what you'd like from that!)

Remember, It's not about much time you study but rather the quality of your studying time.