How to get 5 A’s in SQA Highers

Hi, I just did my Nat5s and got 8 A’s which obviously I am really happy with. I want to do the best that I can in my highers as I have my heart set on a top university. I’ve only been back at school for a few weeks and I’m already feeling overwhelmed with work and not knowing where to start, and I’m worried that I’ll go in too confident for higher.

What revision techniques/organisation etc can I do to try and achieve 5A’s.

Reply 1

elliemcbay

6

I sat four highers this year (English, history, business management and biology) and got three As and a B. Teachers always go on about practice/past papers and I didn't see the importance of them until I started my highers - getting as much practise as possible with exam questions and really familiarising yourself with them will help massively. Flashcards are always good for learning quotations, definitions and facts/figures, but make sure you use them regularly or they're essentially pointless! Practising essays for subjects like English or history will be hugely beneficial too. If you have any questions about particular subjects, I'd be happy to help.

Also, congrats on your Nat 5 results - eight As is amazing! :woo:

Reply 2

thepunmaster.e

OP

17

Original post by elliemcbay

I sat four highers this year (English, history, business management and biology) and got three As and a B. Teachers always go on about practice/past papers and I didn't see the importance of them until I started my highers - getting as much practise as possible with exam questions and really familiarising yourself with them will help massively. Flashcards are always good for learning quotations, definitions and facts/figures, but make sure you use them regularly or they're essentially pointless! Practising essays for subjects like English or history will be hugely beneficial too. If you have any questions about particular subjects, I'd be happy to help.

Also, congrats on your Nat 5 results - eight As is amazing! :woo:

Thank you so much! I have a question about history, I know that from last year there will be two papers, how did you efficiently studying past papers if the format of the exam has changed, as for history and geography I will only have 1 past paper of this format. And also did it matter if you did past papers in the run ups to prelims and then did them again months later during study leave or did you not remember the answers at all?

Reply 3

fucthesqa

9

I sat 5 Highers this year and got 4 A’s and a B however I was 1 mark off 5 As and getting a remark (find out on 27th September). I’m happy to help with any questions regarding the following subjects; Mathematics, English, Modern Studies, Geography, Spanish.
I didn’t revise throughout the whole year and teachers over exaggerate the difficulty of Highers and the step up from national 5. Work hard on your assignments as they do play a big part in your overall grade and it’s worth to just put full effort into them. I started revision at Easter time but not too much just a little bit here and there. When it came to end of April that’s when I started revising properly, I would recommend considering you got 8 A’s which shows your academic to begin revision at the start of April and do it constistenly every day just for a little bit each day. Revise the parts you’re worst at first.

Reply 4

elliemcbay

6

Original post by thepunmaster.e

Thank you so much! I have a question about history, I know that from last year there will be two papers, how did you efficiently studying past papers if the format of the exam has changed, as for history and geography I will only have 1 past paper of this format. And also did it matter if you did past papers in the run ups to prelims and then did them again months later during study leave or did you not remember the answers at all?

My teacher gave us numerous source/essay questions throughout the year that I assume were rewritten/adjusted to follow the new exam format. We also practised each possible essay question that could show up in the final paper during class or for homework and I rewrote those in the days/weeks leading up to the exam. Speak to your teachers about the lack of recent past papers, I'm sure they'd be happy to provide you with some additional resources :thumbsup:

As for my prelims, I did very little to no past paper practise (since I hadn't found an effective way to revise at the time), but I don't see why you couldn't redo questions as you can always work on improving your answers and getting more marks!

Reply 5

cmary02

10

Original post by thepunmaster.e

Thank you so much! I have a question about history, I know that from last year there will be two papers, how did you efficiently studying past papers if the format of the exam has changed, as for history and geography I will only have 1 past paper of this format. And also did it matter if you did past papers in the run ups to prelims and then did them again months later during study leave or did you not remember the answers at all?

This was tricky, I’ll admit. Remember that although you only have one past paper, you have another specimen paper in the updated format to use. Additionally, there might be practice paper books that you can buy that also have full papers in the same, new format, so I’d really encourage you to buy those. Could also be worth asking your teacher nicely for last year’s prelim and any practice materials they gave out.

Additionally, it’s worth remembering that although true format changed it’s not a totally brand new paper. For history, it was simply a case of increasing marks and swapping the compare question for another two source question. This means that you could definitely still practice with the older papers. Same goes for geography, there was a couple small changes to the course, but it was mostly just a case of increasing the marks available. Speak to your teachers, and they can guide you in using older past papers, and explain how it might differ to a new one.

As far as repeating papers during study leave after prelim revision, it kind of depends on how sharp your memory is, but I’d say there’s no harm in doing the same paper twice.

That being said, I’d maybe keep one of the newer style papers back for exam leave, so that you can give yourself a timed practice or something with an unseen paper.

Good luck!

Reply 6

username4958942

6

Original post by thepunmaster.e

Thank you so much! I have a question about history, I know that from last year there will be two papers, how did you efficiently studying past papers if the format of the exam has changed, as for history and geography I will only have 1 past paper of this format. And also did it matter if you did past papers in the run ups to prelims and then did them again months later during study leave or did you not remember the answers at all?

Hey! I did Higher history last year and got an A (so I'm hoping my advice will be helpful :smile:

).

Regarding essays: I think what helped me the most was making concise notes as I went along. At our school anyway they have a pretty formulaic approach (which I found a bit annoying, but worked for getting the marks) so for each essay I would write out the background knowledge, then for each factor the knowledge, analysis/argument, counter knowledge... etc and the extra information or quote to use in the evaluation. Then I would regularly test myself (or get someone else to test me) on that information. It also really helps to do timed practice essays/paragraphs and maybe ask your teacher if they could mark them? They should know the new specification.

In terms of source questions, it's harder because like you said there are only a few new Higher papers. However I found it helpful to recall knowledge on all the sub-sections to make sure you know enough for every scenario they could ask (I tried to have 8 for each, as if I was doing an "Explain..." question). Personally I didn't really remember the practice questions a few months afterwards, so I'm sure you could redo them nearer the exam!

I hope this is helpful! Sorry if it's too long - I spent all year working out the best way to revise history (it was a bit of a stress-inducer for me) so I'm hoping at least some of this is useful :smile:

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 7

Em.-.

18

I got 5 As (all band 1) and almost full marks for 4 of them. I honestly didn’t study too hard however the best advice I can give you is do the work in class. If you just cram study at the end you won’t help yourself (especially for maths and sciences). I should say I seem to have a natural ability to pick things up fast so if this isn’t the case for you then maybe I’d ignore this. I do believe that little and (reasonably) often is the best study approach though as it helps with memory.

Reply 8

kevinpauljob

1

Original post by elliemcbay

I sat four highers this year (English, history, business management and biology) and got three As and a B. Teachers always go on about practice/past papers and I didn't see the importance of them until I started my highers - getting as much practise as possible with exam questions and really familiarising yourself with them will help massively. Flashcards are always good for learning quotations, definitions and facts/figures, but make sure you use them regularly or they're essentially pointless! Practising essays for subjects like English or history will be hugely beneficial too. If you have any questions about particular subjects, I'd be happy to help.

Also, congrats on your Nat 5 results - eight As is amazing! :woo:

you got snap or insta ?? ad kevinpaul.07 i need revision help im doing terrible rn

How to get 5 A’s in SQA Highers

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