I've asked similar questions before but now I have actually started the course I may as well return and ask the question:
How should I deal with the higher year? Should it be continuous revision starting this week or should I do what I did for SG's and begin revising only a few months before the final exam and a month or so before the prelims. How much revision do you, people who have already sat their highers, seriously recommend?
I'm taking the following: English, Maths, Computing and Geography for Higher. PE at Int 2 level. Does anyone have any recommended books for any of the above subjects? In particular some books on how to write essays for English would be appreciated as well as lots of Maths help!
I've asked similar questions before but now I have actually started the course I may as well return and ask the question:
How should I deal with the higher year? Should it be continuous revision starting this week or should I do what I did for SG's and begin revising only a few months before the final exam and a month or so before the prelims. How much revision do you, people who have already sat their highers, seriously recommend?
I'm taking the following: English, Maths, Computing and Geography for Higher. PE at Int 2 level. Does anyone have any recommended books for any of the above subjects? In particular some books on how to write essays for English would be appreciated as well as lots of Maths help!
Finally, are they as bad as people say?!
My advice: continuous working throughout the year. Don't try and do too much at once, but keep a steady pace and increase your workload at prelim and exam time. Do your homework *when* you get it, as it leaves you with a lot of time for revision, and homework is actually there to assist your learning! This really does help! Also, know your learning outcomes inside out and prepare for all eventualities (particularly in english, where essays titles can be unpredictable). Familiarise yourself with the sorts of questions they ask in the final exam.
Highers aren't as bad as people make them out to be, but they are a noticeable step up from SG. This means that you can expect to sacrifice quite a few nights out if you want to do well. However, it's important to give yourself some time off as well.
(Not to toot my own horn, but this was the way I approached my higher year, and ended up with 6As (5 at band 1) there's a method to sitting highers, once you figure it out it's not too hard)
The above advice is exactly how to go about it. Yes they are quite substancially more difficult than SG. You will probably realise by August how irrelevant SG really was. Its just a case of buckling down for the year and getting the work done.
Generally work hard throughout the year and it will pay off.
I started revising for prelims after the Xmas holidays in both S5 and S6, and invariably wished I'd started before.
Keep your work organised throughout the year. Geography especially - nice big folder with sections for each unit full of clear ordered notes, so that if you need to look up case studies on migration or the formation of a limestone pavement, you'll be able to lay your hands on a sheet with everything you need instantly.
Write down in a separate place important things that are likely to be useful for exams - any formula you need to remember, important definitions for computing, etc.
Know your texts inside out for English and practice timed essays on them. Also, pick something you've read and that you like for your SSL. So many of my class were still reading books they weren't interested in when we worked towards it. I studied one of my favourite books, and actually really enjoyed the unit (If you're really stuck on what to do, read some good books over the holidays)
Take advantage of all the resources you have available to you - any revision classes offered, you may wish to buy past papers or revision books, online notes, websites like this.
I wouldn't say you should start revising straight away (certainly none before summer because you'll just forget it!). However, revise for NABs as if you were revising for a prelim (i.e. cover the unit thoroughly and don't just revise bits/the C level stuff/what the teacher has said is in the NAB). That way, when you come to revise it again for the prelim/exam it doesn't take as long.
Do extra revision in your worst subjects (I had an English tutor once a week for an hour and a bit - really paid off) and do all your homework because it really helps consolidate the stuff you learnt in class.
In English for the Specialist Study (which is a complete waste of time and energy and the most boring thing you'll ever encounter) make sure you have a book of notes for the book you're reading. i.e. I did Great Expectations and had a book of notes on it as well, which made finding quotes and analysing things so much easier, and it gave me time to concentrate on my other subjects. For the English exam, plan to do a Introduction-Link-Quote-Analysis/Evaluation-Link-Quote-Analysis/Evaluation-Link...etc type essay. It sounds tedious (and it is) but it gets good marks as long as you do it correctly and vary language and sentence structure.
The Highers weren't nearly as bad as I was expecting: I found no difference in difficulty level in Higher Physics from SG, and I actually thought Higher Maths was easier (although I think I'm alone in holding that view...)! My friend said Higher Geography was easyish.
English; Trust me, you're going to be writing enough essays on your literature throughout the year not to need to revise the play/book/poetry itself except a re-read or two near prelim/exam time. I can't help very much on the essay technique - I write in my spare time, so unsuprisingly that helped :P One thing my teacher really liked was when I started an essay with a linked-but-not-directly-relevant-quote. But that might just have been her... The thing you may have to spend more time on is the close-reading which also counts for 50% of the mark. (although my school decided to ignore this & not do ANY classwork on it) For that, reading newspaper articles weekly is helpful, highlighting interesting language use... hopefully you'll be taught what this in class.
Oh! for the personal study NAB you'll have to read & study a book yourself, so I recommend something you enjoy & is considered a 'classic', as there are more resources available that way. You could start on that now if you were keen...
Maths; You'll have 3 NABS throughout the year, and factoring in prelims, this means you'll be revising parts of the course every couple of months. So as long as you have good notes and are on top of the homework, don't worry! But if you don't understand a technique, ASK STRAIGHT AWAY as it will come back to haunt you later in Unit 3...
As far as revision goes, I only did two large stints - Christmas & Easter (before prelims and exams). I found that my school was giving me enough homework during term time to keep me more than occupied, and so holiday time = serious revision time. This also takes the strain off study leave, but that's a year away yet!
In conclusion, I don't think Highers are 'impossible' or even particularily hard as long as you hit the ground running; pulling up your socks right after a bunch of sucky prelim grades is faaaar too late - but as you're already worrying about them, I don't think that applies to you!
English; Trust me, you're going to be writing enough essays on your literature throughout the year not to need to revise the play/book/poetry itself except a re-read or two near prelim/exam time. I can't help very much on the essay technique - I write in my spare time, so unsuprisingly that helped :P One thing my teacher really liked was when I started an essay with a linked-but-not-directly-relevant-quote. But that might just have been her... The thing you may have to spend more time on is the close-reading which also counts for 50% of the mark. (although my school decided to ignore this & not do ANY classwork on it) For that, reading newspaper articles weekly is helpful, highlighting interesting language use... hopefully you'll be taught what this in class.
Oh! for the personal study NAB you'll have to read & study a book yourself, so I recommend something you enjoy & is considered a 'classic', as there are more resources available that way. You could start on that now if you were keen...
Maths; You'll have 3 NABS throughout the year, and factoring in prelims, this means you'll be revising parts of the course every couple of months. So as long as you have good notes and are on top of the homework, don't worry! But if you don't understand a technique, ASK STRAIGHT AWAY as it will come back to haunt you later in Unit 3...
As far as revision goes, I only did two large stints - Christmas & Easter (before prelims and exams). I found that my school was giving me enough homework during term time to keep me more than occupied, and so holiday time = serious revision time. This also takes the strain off study leave, but that's a year away yet!
In conclusion, I don't think Highers are 'impossible' or even particularily hard as long as you hit the ground running; pulling up your socks right after a bunch of sucky prelim grades is faaaar too late - but as you're already worrying about them, I don't think that applies to you!
Katrin regarding your point about writing in your spare time: I, too, often write in my spare time and apparantly have pretty good English skills. For some reason though I have great difficulty writing the critical essays that are essential for higher and during Standard Grade my hand was practically led through each essay. How can I learn how to write these essays? Are there any techniques or tips you can share?
I must admit it helps that I do not go out during the weekday due to my geography so I guess my revision days are practically set out for me.
The general concensus is that I should continually revise and I will guess I will do that. Does homework count as revision though and does anyone have a recommendation for how many hours per week/per day I should dedicate to revising?
English; Trust me, you're going to be writing enough essays on your literature throughout the year not to need to revise the play/book/poetry itself except a re-read or two near prelim/exam time. I can't help very much on the essay technique - I write in my spare time, so unsuprisingly that helped :P One thing my teacher really liked was when I started an essay with a linked-but-not-directly-relevant-quote. But that might just have been her... The thing you may have to spend more time on is the close-reading which also counts for 50% of the mark. (although my school decided to ignore this & not do ANY classwork on it) For that, reading newspaper articles weekly is helpful, highlighting interesting language use... hopefully you'll be taught what this in class.
Oh! for the personal study NAB you'll have to read & study a book yourself, so I recommend something you enjoy & is considered a 'classic', as there are more resources available that way. You could start on that now if you were keen...
Maths; You'll have 3 NABS throughout the year, and factoring in prelims, this means you'll be revising parts of the course every couple of months. So as long as you have good notes and are on top of the homework, don't worry! But if you don't understand a technique, ASK STRAIGHT AWAY as it will come back to haunt you later in Unit 3...
As far as revision goes, I only did two large stints - Christmas & Easter (before prelims and exams). I found that my school was giving me enough homework during term time to keep me more than occupied, and so holiday time = serious revision time. This also takes the strain off study leave, but that's a year away yet!
In conclusion, I don't think Highers are 'impossible' or even particularily hard as long as you hit the ground running;pulling up your socks right after a bunch of sucky prelim grades is faaaar too late - but as you're already worrying about them, I don't think that applies to you!
not true! i wouldnt advise it many people have done this and put a lot of work in and have done very well, i hope this is the case for me as i definitely felt me actual exams were better than my prelims.
Maths; You'll have 3 NABS throughout the year, and factoring in prelims, this means you'll be revising parts of the course every couple of months. So as long as you have good notes and are on top of the homework, don't worry! But if you don't understand a technique, ASK STRAIGHT AWAY as it will come back to haunt you later in Unit 3...
I agree with getting a good set of notes. If your school doesn't give them to you, then I suggest downloading a copy of the HSN notes from here as they were a great help to me in revision. They also have specimen NABs, so again, if your school doesn't provide you with one, or you're just looking for a little more practice, i seriously suggest that you download them, because you never know, the actual NAB may be pretty similar to the practice
And, yes, do ask straight away if you don't understand
Originally Posted by chinese proverb
He who asks is a fool for 5 minutes, but he who doesn't is a fool for life
And finally, if you work hard and don't leave all of your revision to the end of the course, then no, they are not as hard as everyone says
I didn't find higher as hard as our school made out it was going to be. It may seem a long way ahead but if your condidering doing advanced highers make sure you concentrate on doing the best you can in those subjects as you'll need to be clued up. Keep revising a little throughout the year and i'm sure you'll manage higher fine.
Tip for maths: 10 - 20 minutes of maths everyday is better than 3hrs a week. I have found that maths is much easier to grasp when you do a little every day, it stays fresh. if you do 1 hr on 3 days of the week and none on the other days it is much harder
Katrin regarding your point about writing in your spare time: I, too, often write in my spare time and apparantly have pretty good English skills. For some reason though I have great difficulty writing the critical essays that are essential for higher and during Standard Grade my hand was practically led through each essay. How can I learn how to write these essays? Are there any techniques or tips you can share?
Hmmm, tips... the thing that springs to mind was a (rather empathetically made) reminder my english teacher gave just before the exam, along the lines of;
"What the examiners are looking for is literary analysis - just quoting something isn't good enough! Explain and develop and comment on it for A grades... *rants on similar vein for half an hour*"
Which I interpreted as 'make a quote, analyse said quote, then expand to relate it to the essay topic'. And that worked pretty well
i agree with most of the above. defo do homework as soon as u get it, that way u keep on top of everything. get a diary and write down every piece of hw u get. dont do the bare minimum, do a bit extra if u can. what i used to do after id done all my hw/revision was write in the space in my hw diary for the next day all the revision i wanted to do and then add my hw to it as i got it which helped me be prepared for the next day.
revise continually id say. give urself a break in june tho, but do all ur hw and maybe do some revision before u go back in august. keep going to school up to the last day! (well as long as u know ur teachers will def be teaching anyway). even if u dont have a test coming up, revise something ur unsure of, ull feel good about urself and ull be a step ahead! when u find out u have a test work out a study plan. the way i did it was if i had say 20 pages of notes to learn in 10 days id learn two pages a night and break it up like that, up to u how u do it tho.
have an organised set of notes for every subject. if ur teacher doesnt give u any get some from the net/books.
stay motivated, its only a year out ur life and its def worth all the hard work. plan a day off every so often to give urself a break. have a goal- getting into a particular course/uni and whenever u feel urself flagging think about tht and how fab it would be. i desperately wanted to do medicine and that desire kept me going all thro fifth year.
i would say tho that if u dont work and then get rubbish prelim marks then that is TOO LATE to start working. a friend of mine wanted five As, got rubbish prelim marks, worked hard but still fell far below her target.
i didnt find them as bad as everyone made out they were. but i did int 2 instead of sg so maybe thats why. be organised, motivated,work hard, and ull do really well!! good luck!!
i agree with most of the above. defo do homework as soon as u get it, that way u keep on top of everything. get a diary and write down every piece of hw u get. dont do the bare minimum, do a bit extra if u can. what i used to do after id done all my hw/revision was write in the space in my hw diary for the next day all the revision i wanted to do and then add my hw to it as i got it which helped me be prepared for the next day.
revise continually id say. give urself a break in june tho, but do all ur hw and maybe do some revision before u go back in august. keep going to school up to the last day! (well as long as u know ur teachers will def be teaching anyway). even if u dont have a test coming up, revise something ur unsure of, ull feel good about urself and ull be a step ahead! when u find out u have a test work out a study plan. the way i did it was if i had say 20 pages of notes to learn in 10 days id learn two pages a night and break it up like that, up to u how u do it tho.
have an organised set of notes for every subject. if ur teacher doesnt give u any get some from the net/books.
stay motivated, its only a year out ur life and its def worth all the hard work. plan a day off every so often to give urself a break. have a goal- getting into a particular course/uni and whenever u feel urself flagging think about tht and how fab it would be. i desperately wanted to do medicine and that desire kept me going all thro fifth year.
i would say tho that if u dont work and then get rubbish prelim marks then that is TOO LATE to start working. a friend of mine wanted five As, got rubbish prelim marks, worked hard but still fell far below her target.
i didnt find them as bad as everyone made out they were. but i did int 2 instead of sg so maybe thats why. be organised, motivated,work hard, and ull do really well!! good luck!!
Thanks for the support guys!
I'm already struggling slightly with Maths which is a bit embarrasing but I'm sure I'll get round there. I may be wrong here but to people here, for Maths at least, believe that homework is enough (I will get it pretty much every day if I do not finish the work allocated in class) or should I be doing alot more?
If you're struggling with maths at the moment (and there's nothing wrong with that, it takes time to adjust), I would do your homework, plus finish the work allocated in class, plus some revision (that means extra examples, not just looking over notes, as maths is very much a "doing" subject) to make sure that you really understand the work and to keep it fresh. The techniques you're learning at the moment will no doubt be useful throughout all of your H Maths course, so make sure you really have the early stuff down
As someone else already mentioned, never be afraid to ask questions if you're struggling!
Also as i've said previously, doing some everyday is the best way to build up your maths. It'll keep your eye in and make you quicker at some of the questions such as long division
My advice: continuous working throughout the year.
Was I the only person who didn't revise in my Higher (and AH) year until well after Easter. Then again my highers (French, German, Music, English and History) were not exactly the type for which you can do buckets of revision.
History = little revision?
I don't know as I wisely did not take the subject, but all my historian friends seemed stressed out of their minds revising... but you're right on the french/german front, pretty much just turn up on the day!
id do some maths every day, do a few extra examples etc. maybe stay behind after a class/ go and see ur teacher at lunchtime and ask for some xtra help in the areas ur finding particularly difficult. the quicker u get it sorted, the happier ull be and ull get better marks. dont worry too much, u have lots of time to get used to/ do well in maths. just make sure ur working hard. maths can be tricky at the best of times.
Was I the only person who didn't revise in my Higher (and AH) year until well after Easter. Then again my highers (French, German, Music, English and History) were not exactly the type for which you can do buckets of revision.
I also didnt revise much and i took maths, english, biology, chemistry, physics and music in 5th year all at higher. Most of them you can revise for but i revised a little before the prelims but didn't really start revising til after easter.
For AH (maths and physics) i revised maths all year not as revision just something to do in my free lessons. We were given loads of hw too so that was really helpful.
Unfortunately i didn't enjoy physics nearly as much as at higher, i didn't really revise until after easter except little bits before NABs and the prelims. Don't think i did myself any favours but the teachers were not very helpful so i was stuck i stayed that way.
Discussion for all types of Scottish exams.
Useful Resources:
Tips for higher?
History = little revision?
