SQA Higher Exam Advice - Subject Specific
Many congratulations to everybody for making it through another academic year. I hope everyone received the results they deserved and everybody’s hard work was rewarded.
As a student who has successfully completed my SQA National 5 Exams, I am eager to start preparing for my Highers which are undoubtedly more important.
I noticed in the 2022 SQA Exams results day thread that this year’s Higher candidates achieved A grades in many or all of their subjects.
Next year I am studying 5 Highers consisting of:
- Mathematics
- English
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Biology
If there are pieces of advice or tips for each subject that successful Higher candidates from previous years could pass on, I would be most appreciative. For example organisation tips, mindsets that helped you or anything else you feel could be beneficial to replicate your success.
Many thanks.
As a student who has successfully completed my SQA National 5 Exams, I am eager to start preparing for my Highers which are undoubtedly more important.
I noticed in the 2022 SQA Exams results day thread that this year’s Higher candidates achieved A grades in many or all of their subjects.
Next year I am studying 5 Highers consisting of:
- Mathematics
- English
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Biology
If there are pieces of advice or tips for each subject that successful Higher candidates from previous years could pass on, I would be most appreciative. For example organisation tips, mindsets that helped you or anything else you feel could be beneficial to replicate your success.
Many thanks.
(edited 2 years ago)
Maths - practice little and often starting as soon as you return to school. Use spaced repetition. Leave past papers until nearer to exams and sit in timed conditions then mark, revise gaps, repeat. Keep up with work as difficult to catch up if you fall behind.
English - read quality newspaper opinion pieces as often as you can, try to understand and spot the techniques used. Practice ruae, this will help with ruae and Scottish text. I found the revision guides helpful for this. Write good critical essay plans as soon as you can (intro, conclusion, 4-5 paragraphs each on setting, character etc),memorise and practice adapting those paragraphs to different questions in past papers. Ask your teacher to mark for you. Memorise key set text quotes/themes. Understand what makes a great folio piece.
Chemistry /Physics - create great notes as you go along (look up note taking techniques) and revise, use spaced repetition. Find test questions to practice. Towards end do all available past papers, revise gaps, repeat.
Keep up with the work and revise from the beginning, little and often now 2 x 30-ish mins most week nights (but dont worry if you miss the odd one) , and increase closer to the time and you'll feel less stressed at exam time.
Eat, sleep, exercise well and make sure you have time with friends too.
English - read quality newspaper opinion pieces as often as you can, try to understand and spot the techniques used. Practice ruae, this will help with ruae and Scottish text. I found the revision guides helpful for this. Write good critical essay plans as soon as you can (intro, conclusion, 4-5 paragraphs each on setting, character etc),memorise and practice adapting those paragraphs to different questions in past papers. Ask your teacher to mark for you. Memorise key set text quotes/themes. Understand what makes a great folio piece.
Chemistry /Physics - create great notes as you go along (look up note taking techniques) and revise, use spaced repetition. Find test questions to practice. Towards end do all available past papers, revise gaps, repeat.
Keep up with the work and revise from the beginning, little and often now 2 x 30-ish mins most week nights (but dont worry if you miss the odd one) , and increase closer to the time and you'll feel less stressed at exam time.
Eat, sleep, exercise well and make sure you have time with friends too.
Thanks for the advice, I would just like to clarify a few things:
1) Maths - Would you recommend making Maths notes or printing them out from quality resources such as HSN.co.uk or Higher Maths?
2) English - Are there specific genres or contexts of opinion pieces you would recommend focusing on when reading? As I know certain topics came up more often than others in the past papers (what worked best for you for improving your identification of techniques?)
3) Chemistry/Biology/Physics - Which textbooks and revision guides did you find most useful to understand the material and make your resources from ?
Thanks
1) Maths - Would you recommend making Maths notes or printing them out from quality resources such as HSN.co.uk or Higher Maths?
2) English - Are there specific genres or contexts of opinion pieces you would recommend focusing on when reading? As I know certain topics came up more often than others in the past papers (what worked best for you for improving your identification of techniques?)
3) Chemistry/Biology/Physics - Which textbooks and revision guides did you find most useful to understand the material and make your resources from ?
Thanks
(edited 2 years ago)
1) I made my own notes with worked examples for topics I found challenging or difficult to remember. I found the process of writing the notes helped me remember.
2) For opinion pieces I avoided politics and stuck to technology, science, social, environmental type topics as they interested me more.
3) For both Chemistry/Physics I mostly used class notes and resources. I also had Leckie Chemistry as the school provided and it was useful sometimes. Physics I had HTP but don't remember using. The SQA past papers books are quite good for example questions by topic.
2) For opinion pieces I avoided politics and stuck to technology, science, social, environmental type topics as they interested me more.
3) For both Chemistry/Physics I mostly used class notes and resources. I also had Leckie Chemistry as the school provided and it was useful sometimes. Physics I had HTP but don't remember using. The SQA past papers books are quite good for example questions by topic.
Original post by Chika N
Many congratulations to everybody for making it through another academic year. I hope everyone received the results they deserved and everybody’s hard work was rewarded.
As a student who has successfully completed my SQA National 5 Exams, I am eager to start preparing for my Highers which are undoubtedly more important.
I noticed in the 2022 SQA Exams results day thread that this year’s Higher candidates achieved A grades in many or all of their subjects.
Next year I am studying 5 Highers consisting of:
- Mathematics
- English
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Biology
If there are pieces of advice or tips for each subject that successful Higher candidates from previous years could pass on, I would be most appreciative. For example organisation tips, mindsets that helped you or anything else you feel could be beneficial to replicate your success.
Many thanks.
As a student who has successfully completed my SQA National 5 Exams, I am eager to start preparing for my Highers which are undoubtedly more important.
I noticed in the 2022 SQA Exams results day thread that this year’s Higher candidates achieved A grades in many or all of their subjects.
Next year I am studying 5 Highers consisting of:
- Mathematics
- English
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Biology
If there are pieces of advice or tips for each subject that successful Higher candidates from previous years could pass on, I would be most appreciative. For example organisation tips, mindsets that helped you or anything else you feel could be beneficial to replicate your success.
Many thanks.
I took the exact same subjects in s5!!! I can help
I tend to write a lot so apologies if my reply turns out to be an essay. (It will.)
English: For English, ruae, I was completely hopeless at it. Gave up. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. I kinda just prayed my marks for the other sections in the english exam would be good enough for me to get an A. This is a terrible mindset btw but I have to be honest. For the first section for critical reading, the minute you find out what the poem (or section of novel or drama) will be on the paper, START REVISING IT. What I did was I got a piece of paper, wrote the poem and used EVERY single piece of analysis (which I liked) on the internet and wrote it down. Then I copied it onto a quizlet. The front of the flashcard would be a section of the poem and the back would be the analysis. I would look at the front and on a blank piece of paper, analyse it, flip the flashcard, look at the analysis on the flashcard and see what I missed. I did this very often for 30 days, so when I was in that english exam, I answered the questions in lighting speed. For the ten marker, I found so many exemplary questions my teacher had given my class and did one everyday for a week leading up to the exam and asked my teacher to mark them. The last one she marked I got 10/10. That was from trial and error. If you lose any marks, ask your teacher why, Then write down your corrected answer and show them and ask, ‘would this get me the mark?’ If the say no (make sure they explain why it’s wrong) try again until you get it right!! This is what I did. For the critical essay, I’d highly recommend going through the entire play/novel, find good quotes, write them down somewhere and….. find the analysis online or use your teacher’s analysis. Ok, I’ll be honest. For my critical essay, I found a bunch of quotes for two major characters (Othello and Iago from the play Othello) looked online for some solid analysis and wrote it down. Yeah, a friend recommended it and it worked. If you go through the book and write down the quotes in chronological order, and write down the context behind each quote you will understand the book/novel/play very well. This, THIS is the key. Understand the piece of literature so well with quotes + analysis to back you up and I guarantee no matter what essay question comes up you will be prepared. I went from 8/20, then followed this advice to 15/20, did it again and got 17/20. For the folio, use understanding standards and read previous candidates folio pieces and read the marker’s commentary. From there you can develop a good understanding of how to write a good folio piece and what the sqa is looking for.
Maths - Higher maths is a huge jump from nat 5. My best advice would be, every now and again (like every weekend) review everything you learnt in your Maths class and try to understand it. Watch youtube vids, do practice questions till you can answer those questions in your sleep. I did this (maybe not every weekend but regularly enough) and I consistently got As throughout the course. It can be super frustrating, if nothing’s working out when you’re revising by yourself, go to your maths department and ask your teacher or anyone for help. If you have a maths club, go anytime you feel like maths is impossible. The maths department at my school is literally a godsend. 2 days prior the exam, I came over with so many past paper questions I couldn’t answer and they helped me with every single one of them. I’d recommend doing this. Ask soooo many questions and make sure you understand the teacher’s explanation, if not ask again until you can. And yeah, do a lot of past paper question but everyone knows that lol.
Biology - ever heard of anki? I recommend it. It’s £20 on app store but free on android and on computers so, do as you wish. Anki is like quizlet but heavily focused on space repetition. This is godsent for lazy people like me. I will not go in more detail as there are hundreds of youtube vids that explain what anki is. Anyway, turn the biology course specifications* into flashcards on anki (preferably anki cos you will have hundreds of flashcards to memorise) or quizlet and memorise them all. There. guaranteed A. For scientific literacy, just do past papers and stuff.
**The biology course specification document is different from other course specifications. If you scroll down enough, there will be a section with three columns. Key areas, knowledge of depth required, suggested learning activities. I’d HIGHLY recommend, actually, DEFINITELY make flashcards on not just the key areas but the knowledge of depth required AS WELL. This will increase your chances of getting an A significantly.
Chemistry - Oh chemistry. I would like to clarify I got C6 in the prelim. 52%. Mhm. This subject DESTROYED me. Please please, do not sleep on this subject. out of all the sciences, personally this one is the hardest. My best advice i’d give you is turn the course specification into flashcards (like biology) but that will NOT guarantee you an A. (It is will very helpful tho for questions asking you to define something). I’d highly highly recommend this book: Higher Chemistry by John Anderson. Literally only used this book after my prelim disaster and I got an A in my final exam. BrightRed Higher Chemistry is ok, but that will only give a C grade, realistically speaking. I only used that for my prelim and yeah. I got a C. John Anderson’s book goes through the Higher Chemistry course in so so SO much more detail. And do past paper questions and ask your teacher questions.
Physics: Revising for physics is fairly straightforward. Physics is all about understanding. Which is why I like it, there’s barely any memorisation involved but I’d still recommend turning the course specifications into flashcards. I’d advise watching Mr Mitchell’s Physics. His videos are very concise, easy to understand and helpful. He doesn’t have videos for the entire course unfortunately, but it’s still a lot. BrightRed for Physics is really good. WAY better than Chemistry, imo. Even my physics teachers recommend buying it. If you did well in Nat 5 Physics, really, Higher Physics is nothing to worry about!
Well, that’s my advice. I few things I’d like to reiterate/mention:
-Do not underestimate Highers
-Do past paper questions ofc
-During exam leave, your teachers are your best friends. They have barely anything to do anyway during exam leave, go to them and bombard them with a bunch of questions. They will be happy to help, they are your teachers after all. They are basically an answer book. It is their job to teach so don’t feel like you’re annoying them for asking questions
-Don’t leave things last minute and procrastinate because you will become very stressed. Highers is not built for procrastinators, maybe Nat 5, but not highers. The amount of panic attacks and mental breakdowns I had due to this was… not nice! 😃 🔫
-If things aren’t working out initially, don’t loose hope. I got AAABC in prelim and ended up with AAAAA in the final exam. And if I, the lazy student, can achieve this, anyone can. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice and tips.
Organisation-wise, did you create any notes or summary sheets to allow you to review at regular intervals? I understand that making Maths notes helps some people understand and memorise their material but I’m wondering if pre-made notes (annotated to add extra content if needed) are the way to go.
Organisation-wise, did you create any notes or summary sheets to allow you to review at regular intervals? I understand that making Maths notes helps some people understand and memorise their material but I’m wondering if pre-made notes (annotated to add extra content if needed) are the way to go.
(edited 2 years ago)
Hey, I got a C at National 5 Maths and a few days ago found out that I got an A at Higher. Here's my advice for it.
Do past paper questions - like, as soon as you can. Not only did I get an A at Higher, I did so without feeling stressed at all. I know everyone tells you it's a big jump, which it is, but only with the volume of the content, not the content itself (or so I found).
Therefore, as soon as you finish a unit, do past paper questions on it every few days. Create a routine on that. Then when you finish the next unit, add that into the fold, but don't forget to do the first unit's ones. Continue throughout the year.
Might be a bit difficult to maintain, but I promise you that you will get an A. I never looked over theory once or spent 3 hours panic revising and didn't have to because I did this consistent, gentle revision from the start of the year.
Do past paper questions - like, as soon as you can. Not only did I get an A at Higher, I did so without feeling stressed at all. I know everyone tells you it's a big jump, which it is, but only with the volume of the content, not the content itself (or so I found).
Therefore, as soon as you finish a unit, do past paper questions on it every few days. Create a routine on that. Then when you finish the next unit, add that into the fold, but don't forget to do the first unit's ones. Continue throughout the year.
Might be a bit difficult to maintain, but I promise you that you will get an A. I never looked over theory once or spent 3 hours panic revising and didn't have to because I did this consistent, gentle revision from the start of the year.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by JamesMcCaffery
Hey, I got a C at National 5 Maths and a few days ago found out that I got an A at Higher. Here's my advice for it.
Do past paper questions - like, as soon as you can. Not only did I get an A at Higher, I did so without feeling stressed at all. I know everyone tells you it's a big jump, which it is, but only with the volume of the content, not the content itself (or so I found).
Therefore, as soon as you finish a unit, do past paper questions on it every few days. Create a routine on that. Then when you finish the next unit, add that into the fold, but don't forget to do the first unit's ones. Continue throughout the year.
Might be a bit difficult to maintain, but I promise you that you will get an A. I never looked over theory once or spent 3 hours panic revising and didn't have to because I did this consistent, gentle revision from the start of the year.
Do past paper questions - like, as soon as you can. Not only did I get an A at Higher, I did so without feeling stressed at all. I know everyone tells you it's a big jump, which it is, but only with the volume of the content, not the content itself (or so I found).
Therefore, as soon as you finish a unit, do past paper questions on it every few days. Create a routine on that. Then when you finish the next unit, add that into the fold, but don't forget to do the first unit's ones. Continue throughout the year.
Might be a bit difficult to maintain, but I promise you that you will get an A. I never looked over theory once or spent 3 hours panic revising and didn't have to because I did this consistent, gentle revision from the start of the year.
The Higher Maths website is fantastic for worked solutions and more questions to do once you get through all the recent SQA past papers.
Thanks mate, I totally agree. Being able to apply your knowledge and take the right route into the question is the most important thing when it comes to Maths.
However, I think it is still important to have a form of a ‘summary’ of the theory to look back on for a quick refresher. I’m debating between making my own notes or printing out notes from the Higher Maths website (or other online resources). I am leaning towards printed notes as this will allow for more time to complete Past Papers and master the exam technique.
Which of the two options would you and other people recommend using for Higher?
However, I think it is still important to have a form of a ‘summary’ of the theory to look back on for a quick refresher. I’m debating between making my own notes or printing out notes from the Higher Maths website (or other online resources). I am leaning towards printed notes as this will allow for more time to complete Past Papers and master the exam technique.
Which of the two options would you and other people recommend using for Higher?
(edited 2 years ago)
Hey,
So I did almost the same subjects as you except I did history instead of physics and I got AAABB this year so hopefully I can help.
Maths- Maths was hell all year for me and for about 3/4 of the year I felt like i understood nothing and was on a constant rollercoaster the entire year in terms of grades. I was predicted a B but ended up getting an A for the final exam. Maths isnt my strength and I am not that great with numbers but I can get good grades after a lot of blood sweat & tears. My tips would be to make sure you fully understand what your doing and ask for help immediately (Im guilty for not doing this but it would have made my life alot easier if i did ask for help.). Make sure you have good worked examples for each topic & make you do the harder questions!! The step up for me was huge & i really struggled! Try and do past paper questions/ practice questions every weekend and i would recommend the higher maths webiste-
https://www.highermathematics.co.uk/higher-maths-whole-course/
This website is filled with lots and lots of examples & notes and it is a life saver. When doing past papers and you get stuck refer to DLB maths on youtube, he pretty much has worked solutions for every past paper and they're very easy to follow through. For maths you just need to practice & ask for help.
English- I didn't find much of a step up for English, the big difference is there are more marks you need to gain & marking is different (you don't get marks for finding & writing down quotes at higher). Close reading is very formulaic so make sure you understand how to answer each type of question as you don't need any knowledge for this section. For paper 2; make sure you really understand your text inside out & key themes (I did the great gatsby) and practice writing timed essays. At higher you really need to analyse your quotes well and explain what you learn from it and how it is relevant to your question. For poetry make sure you understand your poems & key ideas & find links between them. My biggest advice for paper 2 is that you should recycle quotes!!! Find quotes that can overlap different themes & ideas Most of my essay plans used the same 5-8 quotes! so be strategic about it; you're expected to learn 6 essays but if you know 4 of them inside out then at least 1 of them will show up in your final exam. At higher the questions can be more specific and narrow than at N5 but just adapt your analysis accordingly.
Biology; I personally found H bio to be extremely boring compared to N5! I got a B in the final paper but was predicted an A so i have appealed but make sure you understand the content really well and attempt past paper questions. Some of the questions can be worded funny and you might not even realise what topic they're hinting at so practice!!!! Ask your teacher for help when needed and Mr Mitchell on youtube explains all the topics really well in 10-30 minute videos so that is also useful. Bio requires alot of memorisation & markschemes are picky so stick to the markscheme answers!!! Also know your calculation & problem solving questions well as they can trip you up.
Chemistry; So chemistry was probably one of my best subjects in the year along with history and I had really good grades the whole year until the prelim where I got likr 60 something (I didn't prepare that well for the paper tbf) but i lost alot of marks because i didn't know how to do the problem solving/ calculation questions- we hadn't covered it in class (i mean u dont need any new knowledge but you should know how to approach them) but after the prelim we made sure that we did lots of examples and I practiced this extensively during study leave. However the exam this year really tripped me up and i found it very hard, more than i expected it to be (thankfully I managed to get at least a B even tho it was one of the subjects i was expecting an A in through the entire year). When you do past papers there will be questions about drawing certain equipment for experiments, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO DO THAT because it showed up in the exam and we hadnt done it formally in class so i skipped those questions when i was revising! Also this years chem paper broke the trends that i saw in past papers; i was told that sqa dont ask trick questions in chem papers but this year they did, also that they dont usually make students write propagation equations which again it appeared so it rlly tripped me up! Focus on the calculations because they can seem daunting at first but its actually muscle memory and you get better at them (and they r easy marks) , dont stress too much about using ur knowledge questions they seem like such a great deal at N5 but they're rlly not. they're only 3 marks which is the same amount as calculation questiosns. Make sure you understand the content well especially unit 1 which is very understanding heavy & u need to explain things rlly well, whilst for unit 2 its more about understanding the reactions & unit 3 is calculations, do past papers and stay on top of things.
In general; highers have taught me that a little a day goes along way!!!!!! I leave things to last minute and its not good so start early! Briefly go over the stuff you learned every weekend and do past papers and questions regularly. Hand in homework & go over it and understand where you went wrong along with class tests. If you have external things like portfolios etc, give it your 100%, attend revision classes and ASK for help!!!!!
all the best!
So I did almost the same subjects as you except I did history instead of physics and I got AAABB this year so hopefully I can help.
Maths- Maths was hell all year for me and for about 3/4 of the year I felt like i understood nothing and was on a constant rollercoaster the entire year in terms of grades. I was predicted a B but ended up getting an A for the final exam. Maths isnt my strength and I am not that great with numbers but I can get good grades after a lot of blood sweat & tears. My tips would be to make sure you fully understand what your doing and ask for help immediately (Im guilty for not doing this but it would have made my life alot easier if i did ask for help.). Make sure you have good worked examples for each topic & make you do the harder questions!! The step up for me was huge & i really struggled! Try and do past paper questions/ practice questions every weekend and i would recommend the higher maths webiste-
https://www.highermathematics.co.uk/higher-maths-whole-course/
This website is filled with lots and lots of examples & notes and it is a life saver. When doing past papers and you get stuck refer to DLB maths on youtube, he pretty much has worked solutions for every past paper and they're very easy to follow through. For maths you just need to practice & ask for help.
English- I didn't find much of a step up for English, the big difference is there are more marks you need to gain & marking is different (you don't get marks for finding & writing down quotes at higher). Close reading is very formulaic so make sure you understand how to answer each type of question as you don't need any knowledge for this section. For paper 2; make sure you really understand your text inside out & key themes (I did the great gatsby) and practice writing timed essays. At higher you really need to analyse your quotes well and explain what you learn from it and how it is relevant to your question. For poetry make sure you understand your poems & key ideas & find links between them. My biggest advice for paper 2 is that you should recycle quotes!!! Find quotes that can overlap different themes & ideas Most of my essay plans used the same 5-8 quotes! so be strategic about it; you're expected to learn 6 essays but if you know 4 of them inside out then at least 1 of them will show up in your final exam. At higher the questions can be more specific and narrow than at N5 but just adapt your analysis accordingly.
Biology; I personally found H bio to be extremely boring compared to N5! I got a B in the final paper but was predicted an A so i have appealed but make sure you understand the content really well and attempt past paper questions. Some of the questions can be worded funny and you might not even realise what topic they're hinting at so practice!!!! Ask your teacher for help when needed and Mr Mitchell on youtube explains all the topics really well in 10-30 minute videos so that is also useful. Bio requires alot of memorisation & markschemes are picky so stick to the markscheme answers!!! Also know your calculation & problem solving questions well as they can trip you up.
Chemistry; So chemistry was probably one of my best subjects in the year along with history and I had really good grades the whole year until the prelim where I got likr 60 something (I didn't prepare that well for the paper tbf) but i lost alot of marks because i didn't know how to do the problem solving/ calculation questions- we hadn't covered it in class (i mean u dont need any new knowledge but you should know how to approach them) but after the prelim we made sure that we did lots of examples and I practiced this extensively during study leave. However the exam this year really tripped me up and i found it very hard, more than i expected it to be (thankfully I managed to get at least a B even tho it was one of the subjects i was expecting an A in through the entire year). When you do past papers there will be questions about drawing certain equipment for experiments, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO DO THAT because it showed up in the exam and we hadnt done it formally in class so i skipped those questions when i was revising! Also this years chem paper broke the trends that i saw in past papers; i was told that sqa dont ask trick questions in chem papers but this year they did, also that they dont usually make students write propagation equations which again it appeared so it rlly tripped me up! Focus on the calculations because they can seem daunting at first but its actually muscle memory and you get better at them (and they r easy marks) , dont stress too much about using ur knowledge questions they seem like such a great deal at N5 but they're rlly not. they're only 3 marks which is the same amount as calculation questiosns. Make sure you understand the content well especially unit 1 which is very understanding heavy & u need to explain things rlly well, whilst for unit 2 its more about understanding the reactions & unit 3 is calculations, do past papers and stay on top of things.
In general; highers have taught me that a little a day goes along way!!!!!! I leave things to last minute and its not good so start early! Briefly go over the stuff you learned every weekend and do past papers and questions regularly. Hand in homework & go over it and understand where you went wrong along with class tests. If you have external things like portfolios etc, give it your 100%, attend revision classes and ASK for help!!!!!
all the best!
Thanks. I'll definitely be using the resources you recommend.
Original post by Nara_shortcake31
Hey,
So I did almost the same subjects as you except I did history instead of physics and I got AAABB this year so hopefully I can help.
Maths- Maths was hell all year for me and for about 3/4 of the year I felt like i understood nothing and was on a constant rollercoaster the entire year in terms of grades. I was predicted a B but ended up getting an A for the final exam. Maths isnt my strength and I am not that great with numbers but I can get good grades after a lot of blood sweat & tears. My tips would be to make sure you fully understand what your doing and ask for help immediately (Im guilty for not doing this but it would have made my life alot easier if i did ask for help.). Make sure you have good worked examples for each topic & make you do the harder questions!! The step up for me was huge & i really struggled! Try and do past paper questions/ practice questions every weekend and i would recommend the higher maths webiste-
https://www.highermathematics.co.uk/higher-maths-whole-course/
This website is filled with lots and lots of examples & notes and it is a life saver. When doing past papers and you get stuck refer to DLB maths on youtube, he pretty much has worked solutions for every past paper and they're very easy to follow through. For maths you just need to practice & ask for help.
English- I didn't find much of a step up for English, the big difference is there are more marks you need to gain & marking is different (you don't get marks for finding & writing down quotes at higher). Close reading is very formulaic so make sure you understand how to answer each type of question as you don't need any knowledge for this section. For paper 2; make sure you really understand your text inside out & key themes (I did the great gatsby) and practice writing timed essays. At higher you really need to analyse your quotes well and explain what you learn from it and how it is relevant to your question. For poetry make sure you understand your poems & key ideas & find links between them. My biggest advice for paper 2 is that you should recycle quotes!!! Find quotes that can overlap different themes & ideas Most of my essay plans used the same 5-8 quotes! so be strategic about it; you're expected to learn 6 essays but if you know 4 of them inside out then at least 1 of them will show up in your final exam. At higher the questions can be more specific and narrow than at N5 but just adapt your analysis accordingly.
Biology; I personally found H bio to be extremely boring compared to N5! I got a B in the final paper but was predicted an A so i have appealed but make sure you understand the content really well and attempt past paper questions. Some of the questions can be worded funny and you might not even realise what topic they're hinting at so practice!!!! Ask your teacher for help when needed and Mr Mitchell on youtube explains all the topics really well in 10-30 minute videos so that is also useful. Bio requires alot of memorisation & markschemes are picky so stick to the markscheme answers!!! Also know your calculation & problem solving questions well as they can trip you up.
Chemistry; So chemistry was probably one of my best subjects in the year along with history and I had really good grades the whole year until the prelim where I got likr 60 something (I didn't prepare that well for the paper tbf) but i lost alot of marks because i didn't know how to do the problem solving/ calculation questions- we hadn't covered it in class (i mean u dont need any new knowledge but you should know how to approach them) but after the prelim we made sure that we did lots of examples and I practiced this extensively during study leave. However the exam this year really tripped me up and i found it very hard, more than i expected it to be (thankfully I managed to get at least a B even tho it was one of the subjects i was expecting an A in through the entire year). When you do past papers there will be questions about drawing certain equipment for experiments, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO DO THAT because it showed up in the exam and we hadnt done it formally in class so i skipped those questions when i was revising! Also this years chem paper broke the trends that i saw in past papers; i was told that sqa dont ask trick questions in chem papers but this year they did, also that they dont usually make students write propagation equations which again it appeared so it rlly tripped me up! Focus on the calculations because they can seem daunting at first but its actually muscle memory and you get better at them (and they r easy marks) , dont stress too much about using ur knowledge questions they seem like such a great deal at N5 but they're rlly not. they're only 3 marks which is the same amount as calculation questiosns. Make sure you understand the content well especially unit 1 which is very understanding heavy & u need to explain things rlly well, whilst for unit 2 its more about understanding the reactions & unit 3 is calculations, do past papers and stay on top of things.
In general; highers have taught me that a little a day goes along way!!!!!! I leave things to last minute and its not good so start early! Briefly go over the stuff you learned every weekend and do past papers and questions regularly. Hand in homework & go over it and understand where you went wrong along with class tests. If you have external things like portfolios etc, give it your 100%, attend revision classes and ASK for help!!!!!
all the best!
So I did almost the same subjects as you except I did history instead of physics and I got AAABB this year so hopefully I can help.
Maths- Maths was hell all year for me and for about 3/4 of the year I felt like i understood nothing and was on a constant rollercoaster the entire year in terms of grades. I was predicted a B but ended up getting an A for the final exam. Maths isnt my strength and I am not that great with numbers but I can get good grades after a lot of blood sweat & tears. My tips would be to make sure you fully understand what your doing and ask for help immediately (Im guilty for not doing this but it would have made my life alot easier if i did ask for help.). Make sure you have good worked examples for each topic & make you do the harder questions!! The step up for me was huge & i really struggled! Try and do past paper questions/ practice questions every weekend and i would recommend the higher maths webiste-
https://www.highermathematics.co.uk/higher-maths-whole-course/
This website is filled with lots and lots of examples & notes and it is a life saver. When doing past papers and you get stuck refer to DLB maths on youtube, he pretty much has worked solutions for every past paper and they're very easy to follow through. For maths you just need to practice & ask for help.
English- I didn't find much of a step up for English, the big difference is there are more marks you need to gain & marking is different (you don't get marks for finding & writing down quotes at higher). Close reading is very formulaic so make sure you understand how to answer each type of question as you don't need any knowledge for this section. For paper 2; make sure you really understand your text inside out & key themes (I did the great gatsby) and practice writing timed essays. At higher you really need to analyse your quotes well and explain what you learn from it and how it is relevant to your question. For poetry make sure you understand your poems & key ideas & find links between them. My biggest advice for paper 2 is that you should recycle quotes!!! Find quotes that can overlap different themes & ideas Most of my essay plans used the same 5-8 quotes! so be strategic about it; you're expected to learn 6 essays but if you know 4 of them inside out then at least 1 of them will show up in your final exam. At higher the questions can be more specific and narrow than at N5 but just adapt your analysis accordingly.
Biology; I personally found H bio to be extremely boring compared to N5! I got a B in the final paper but was predicted an A so i have appealed but make sure you understand the content really well and attempt past paper questions. Some of the questions can be worded funny and you might not even realise what topic they're hinting at so practice!!!! Ask your teacher for help when needed and Mr Mitchell on youtube explains all the topics really well in 10-30 minute videos so that is also useful. Bio requires alot of memorisation & markschemes are picky so stick to the markscheme answers!!! Also know your calculation & problem solving questions well as they can trip you up.
Chemistry; So chemistry was probably one of my best subjects in the year along with history and I had really good grades the whole year until the prelim where I got likr 60 something (I didn't prepare that well for the paper tbf) but i lost alot of marks because i didn't know how to do the problem solving/ calculation questions- we hadn't covered it in class (i mean u dont need any new knowledge but you should know how to approach them) but after the prelim we made sure that we did lots of examples and I practiced this extensively during study leave. However the exam this year really tripped me up and i found it very hard, more than i expected it to be (thankfully I managed to get at least a B even tho it was one of the subjects i was expecting an A in through the entire year). When you do past papers there will be questions about drawing certain equipment for experiments, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO DO THAT because it showed up in the exam and we hadnt done it formally in class so i skipped those questions when i was revising! Also this years chem paper broke the trends that i saw in past papers; i was told that sqa dont ask trick questions in chem papers but this year they did, also that they dont usually make students write propagation equations which again it appeared so it rlly tripped me up! Focus on the calculations because they can seem daunting at first but its actually muscle memory and you get better at them (and they r easy marks) , dont stress too much about using ur knowledge questions they seem like such a great deal at N5 but they're rlly not. they're only 3 marks which is the same amount as calculation questiosns. Make sure you understand the content well especially unit 1 which is very understanding heavy & u need to explain things rlly well, whilst for unit 2 its more about understanding the reactions & unit 3 is calculations, do past papers and stay on top of things.
In general; highers have taught me that a little a day goes along way!!!!!! I leave things to last minute and its not good so start early! Briefly go over the stuff you learned every weekend and do past papers and questions regularly. Hand in homework & go over it and understand where you went wrong along with class tests. If you have external things like portfolios etc, give it your 100%, attend revision classes and ASK for help!!!!!
all the best!
Original post by dorkpop2000
I took the exact same subjects in s5!!! I can help
I tend to write a lot so apologies if my reply turns out to be an essay. (It will.)
English: For English, ruae, I was completely hopeless at it. Gave up. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. I kinda just prayed my marks for the other sections in the english exam would be good enough for me to get an A. This is a terrible mindset btw but I have to be honest. For the first section for critical reading, the minute you find out what the poem (or section of novel or drama) will be on the paper, START REVISING IT. What I did was I got a piece of paper, wrote the poem and used EVERY single piece of analysis (which I liked) on the internet and wrote it down. Then I copied it onto a quizlet. The front of the flashcard would be a section of the poem and the back would be the analysis. I would look at the front and on a blank piece of paper, analyse it, flip the flashcard, look at the analysis on the flashcard and see what I missed. I did this very often for 30 days, so when I was in that english exam, I answered the questions in lighting speed. For the ten marker, I found so many exemplary questions my teacher had given my class and did one everyday for a week leading up to the exam and asked my teacher to mark them. The last one she marked I got 10/10. That was from trial and error. If you lose any marks, ask your teacher why, Then write down your corrected answer and show them and ask, ‘would this get me the mark?’ If the say no (make sure they explain why it’s wrong) try again until you get it right!! This is what I did. For the critical essay, I’d highly recommend going through the entire play/novel, find good quotes, write them down somewhere and….. find the analysis online or use your teacher’s analysis. Ok, I’ll be honest. For my critical essay, I found a bunch of quotes for two major characters (Othello and Iago from the play Othello) looked online for some solid analysis and wrote it down. Yeah, a friend recommended it and it worked. If you go through the book and write down the quotes in chronological order, and write down the context behind each quote you will understand the book/novel/play very well. This, THIS is the key. Understand the piece of literature so well with quotes + analysis to back you up and I guarantee no matter what essay question comes up you will be prepared. I went from 8/20, then followed this advice to 15/20, did it again and got 17/20. For the folio, use understanding standards and read previous candidates folio pieces and read the marker’s commentary. From there you can develop a good understanding of how to write a good folio piece and what the sqa is looking for.
Maths - Higher maths is a huge jump from nat 5. My best advice would be, every now and again (like every weekend) review everything you learnt in your Maths class and try to understand it. Watch youtube vids, do practice questions till you can answer those questions in your sleep. I did this (maybe not every weekend but regularly enough) and I consistently got As throughout the course. It can be super frustrating, if nothing’s working out when you’re revising by yourself, go to your maths department and ask your teacher or anyone for help. If you have a maths club, go anytime you feel like maths is impossible. The maths department at my school is literally a godsend. 2 days prior the exam, I came over with so many past paper questions I couldn’t answer and they helped me with every single one of them. I’d recommend doing this. Ask soooo many questions and make sure you understand the teacher’s explanation, if not ask again until you can. And yeah, do a lot of past paper question but everyone knows that lol.
Biology - ever heard of anki? I recommend it. It’s £20 on app store but free on android and on computers so, do as you wish. Anki is like quizlet but heavily focused on space repetition. This is godsent for lazy people like me. I will not go in more detail as there are hundreds of youtube vids that explain what anki is. Anyway, turn the biology course specifications* into flashcards on anki (preferably anki cos you will have hundreds of flashcards to memorise) or quizlet and memorise them all. There. guaranteed A. For scientific literacy, just do past papers and stuff.
**The biology course specification document is different from other course specifications. If you scroll down enough, there will be a section with three columns. Key areas, knowledge of depth required, suggested learning activities. I’d HIGHLY recommend, actually, DEFINITELY make flashcards on not just the key areas but the knowledge of depth required AS WELL. This will increase your chances of getting an A significantly.
Chemistry - Oh chemistry. I would like to clarify I got C6 in the prelim. 52%. Mhm. This subject DESTROYED me. Please please, do not sleep on this subject. out of all the sciences, personally this one is the hardest. My best advice i’d give you is turn the course specification into flashcards (like biology) but that will NOT guarantee you an A. (It is will very helpful tho for questions asking you to define something). I’d highly highly recommend this book: Higher Chemistry by John Anderson. Literally only used this book after my prelim disaster and I got an A in my final exam. BrightRed Higher Chemistry is ok, but that will only give a C grade, realistically speaking. I only used that for my prelim and yeah. I got a C. John Anderson’s book goes through the Higher Chemistry course in so so SO much more detail. And do past paper questions and ask your teacher questions.
Physics: Revising for physics is fairly straightforward. Physics is all about understanding. Which is why I like it, there’s barely any memorisation involved but I’d still recommend turning the course specifications into flashcards. I’d advise watching Mr Mitchell’s Physics. His videos are very concise, easy to understand and helpful. He doesn’t have videos for the entire course unfortunately, but it’s still a lot. BrightRed for Physics is really good. WAY better than Chemistry, imo. Even my physics teachers recommend buying it. If you did well in Nat 5 Physics, really, Higher Physics is nothing to worry about!
Well, that’s my advice. I few things I’d like to reiterate/mention:
-Do not underestimate Highers
-Do past paper questions ofc
-During exam leave, your teachers are your best friends. They have barely anything to do anyway during exam leave, go to them and bombard them with a bunch of questions. They will be happy to help, they are your teachers after all. They are basically an answer book. It is their job to teach so don’t feel like you’re annoying them for asking questions
-Don’t leave things last minute and procrastinate because you will become very stressed. Highers is not built for procrastinators, maybe Nat 5, but not highers. The amount of panic attacks and mental breakdowns I had due to this was… not nice! 😃 🔫
-If things aren’t working out initially, don’t loose hope. I got AAABC in prelim and ended up with AAAAA in the final exam. And if I, the lazy student, can achieve this, anyone can. Good luck!
I tend to write a lot so apologies if my reply turns out to be an essay. (It will.)
English: For English, ruae, I was completely hopeless at it. Gave up. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. I kinda just prayed my marks for the other sections in the english exam would be good enough for me to get an A. This is a terrible mindset btw but I have to be honest. For the first section for critical reading, the minute you find out what the poem (or section of novel or drama) will be on the paper, START REVISING IT. What I did was I got a piece of paper, wrote the poem and used EVERY single piece of analysis (which I liked) on the internet and wrote it down. Then I copied it onto a quizlet. The front of the flashcard would be a section of the poem and the back would be the analysis. I would look at the front and on a blank piece of paper, analyse it, flip the flashcard, look at the analysis on the flashcard and see what I missed. I did this very often for 30 days, so when I was in that english exam, I answered the questions in lighting speed. For the ten marker, I found so many exemplary questions my teacher had given my class and did one everyday for a week leading up to the exam and asked my teacher to mark them. The last one she marked I got 10/10. That was from trial and error. If you lose any marks, ask your teacher why, Then write down your corrected answer and show them and ask, ‘would this get me the mark?’ If the say no (make sure they explain why it’s wrong) try again until you get it right!! This is what I did. For the critical essay, I’d highly recommend going through the entire play/novel, find good quotes, write them down somewhere and….. find the analysis online or use your teacher’s analysis. Ok, I’ll be honest. For my critical essay, I found a bunch of quotes for two major characters (Othello and Iago from the play Othello) looked online for some solid analysis and wrote it down. Yeah, a friend recommended it and it worked. If you go through the book and write down the quotes in chronological order, and write down the context behind each quote you will understand the book/novel/play very well. This, THIS is the key. Understand the piece of literature so well with quotes + analysis to back you up and I guarantee no matter what essay question comes up you will be prepared. I went from 8/20, then followed this advice to 15/20, did it again and got 17/20. For the folio, use understanding standards and read previous candidates folio pieces and read the marker’s commentary. From there you can develop a good understanding of how to write a good folio piece and what the sqa is looking for.
Maths - Higher maths is a huge jump from nat 5. My best advice would be, every now and again (like every weekend) review everything you learnt in your Maths class and try to understand it. Watch youtube vids, do practice questions till you can answer those questions in your sleep. I did this (maybe not every weekend but regularly enough) and I consistently got As throughout the course. It can be super frustrating, if nothing’s working out when you’re revising by yourself, go to your maths department and ask your teacher or anyone for help. If you have a maths club, go anytime you feel like maths is impossible. The maths department at my school is literally a godsend. 2 days prior the exam, I came over with so many past paper questions I couldn’t answer and they helped me with every single one of them. I’d recommend doing this. Ask soooo many questions and make sure you understand the teacher’s explanation, if not ask again until you can. And yeah, do a lot of past paper question but everyone knows that lol.
Biology - ever heard of anki? I recommend it. It’s £20 on app store but free on android and on computers so, do as you wish. Anki is like quizlet but heavily focused on space repetition. This is godsent for lazy people like me. I will not go in more detail as there are hundreds of youtube vids that explain what anki is. Anyway, turn the biology course specifications* into flashcards on anki (preferably anki cos you will have hundreds of flashcards to memorise) or quizlet and memorise them all. There. guaranteed A. For scientific literacy, just do past papers and stuff.
**The biology course specification document is different from other course specifications. If you scroll down enough, there will be a section with three columns. Key areas, knowledge of depth required, suggested learning activities. I’d HIGHLY recommend, actually, DEFINITELY make flashcards on not just the key areas but the knowledge of depth required AS WELL. This will increase your chances of getting an A significantly.
Chemistry - Oh chemistry. I would like to clarify I got C6 in the prelim. 52%. Mhm. This subject DESTROYED me. Please please, do not sleep on this subject. out of all the sciences, personally this one is the hardest. My best advice i’d give you is turn the course specification into flashcards (like biology) but that will NOT guarantee you an A. (It is will very helpful tho for questions asking you to define something). I’d highly highly recommend this book: Higher Chemistry by John Anderson. Literally only used this book after my prelim disaster and I got an A in my final exam. BrightRed Higher Chemistry is ok, but that will only give a C grade, realistically speaking. I only used that for my prelim and yeah. I got a C. John Anderson’s book goes through the Higher Chemistry course in so so SO much more detail. And do past paper questions and ask your teacher questions.
Physics: Revising for physics is fairly straightforward. Physics is all about understanding. Which is why I like it, there’s barely any memorisation involved but I’d still recommend turning the course specifications into flashcards. I’d advise watching Mr Mitchell’s Physics. His videos are very concise, easy to understand and helpful. He doesn’t have videos for the entire course unfortunately, but it’s still a lot. BrightRed for Physics is really good. WAY better than Chemistry, imo. Even my physics teachers recommend buying it. If you did well in Nat 5 Physics, really, Higher Physics is nothing to worry about!
Well, that’s my advice. I few things I’d like to reiterate/mention:
-Do not underestimate Highers
-Do past paper questions ofc
-During exam leave, your teachers are your best friends. They have barely anything to do anyway during exam leave, go to them and bombard them with a bunch of questions. They will be happy to help, they are your teachers after all. They are basically an answer book. It is their job to teach so don’t feel like you’re annoying them for asking questions
-Don’t leave things last minute and procrastinate because you will become very stressed. Highers is not built for procrastinators, maybe Nat 5, but not highers. The amount of panic attacks and mental breakdowns I had due to this was… not nice! 😃 🔫
-If things aren’t working out initially, don’t loose hope. I got AAABC in prelim and ended up with AAAAA in the final exam. And if I, the lazy student, can achieve this, anyone can. Good luck!
for chemistry how exactly did u use the book? and do u happen to have anki flashcards for chem that u used ? 🙂 its honestly my biggest worry rn and difficult doenst even describe it
Original post by hussienmanaf6
for chemistry how exactly did u use the book? and do u happen to have anki flashcards for chem that u used ? 🙂 its honestly my biggest worry rn and difficult doenst even describe it
Hiya. For the book, I basically read through topics I was struggling with over and over again until I could understand it. The book has really good explanations, I think it can even explain things beyond the course but it’s just so you can get a better understanding. Then for flashcards, I made the course specifications into flashcards and in addition, made flashcards from the book covering some areas discussed in the course specifications that I thought required more knowledge than using the knowledge from the course specifications alone, if that makes sense. (there’s no point turning everything from the book into flash cards, just pick and choose what seems most relevant in relation to the course spec) Then, after that, I would do past paper questions on the specific topic and if I got anything wrong I would look at the mark scheme, try to understand why I got it wrong and turn it into a flash card. I only really used anki for biology. For chemistry I used an app called smartcards+. It was just more convenient for me to use at the time. I still have them, but I feel like you are better off making your own flash cards… the information will stick better
Original post by kevinpauljob
Original post by username6001165
Many congratulations to everybody for making it through another academic year. I hope everyone received the results they deserved and everybody’s hard work was rewarded.
As a student who has successfully completed my SQA National 5 Exams, I am eager to start preparing for my Highers which are undoubtedly more important.
I noticed in the 2022 SQA Exams results day thread that this year’s Higher candidates achieved A grades in many or all of their subjects.
Next year I am studying 5 Highers consisting of:
- Mathematics
- English
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Biology
If there are pieces of advice or tips for each subject that successful Higher candidates from previous years could pass on, I would be most appreciative. For example organisation tips, mindsets that helped you or anything else you feel could be beneficial to replicate your success.
Many thanks.
As a student who has successfully completed my SQA National 5 Exams, I am eager to start preparing for my Highers which are undoubtedly more important.
I noticed in the 2022 SQA Exams results day thread that this year’s Higher candidates achieved A grades in many or all of their subjects.
Next year I am studying 5 Highers consisting of:
- Mathematics
- English
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Biology
If there are pieces of advice or tips for each subject that successful Higher candidates from previous years could pass on, I would be most appreciative. For example organisation tips, mindsets that helped you or anything else you feel could be beneficial to replicate your success.
Many thanks.
dam im doing that this year aslo i dont use this much can you add my snap or insta? kevinpaul.07 i need help on this im failing so bad
Hey,
As someone who did those last year and got AAAAB after failing most my prelims here’s my advice
Maths-
Basically practice questions, I used the highermaths website where they have questions by topic and then I wrote example Qs for ones I struggled with
Chem- flash cards which I wrote from scholar, not sure if your school uses that and also miss Adam’s chemistry on YouTube is ok I also wrote a list of the calculations I needed to know so I could practice
Bio- same with chem but I used mr mitchel on YouTube, he has a playlist of videos on the whole course, bio is basically memorisation so just learn flash cards or however you do your revision
Physics- okay this one I struggled a lot but what saved me was mr Mitchell physics on YouTube, he has all the course videos AND he has an online website which I copied
My notes from and that saved me literally
English- okay this one I’m not much help with as I found it tricky to revise for but I wrote flash cards for ruae and learnt my essay
Original post by dorkpop2000
Hiya. For the book, I basically read through topics I was struggling with over and over again until I could understand it. The book has really good explanations, I think it can even explain things beyond the course but it’s just so you can get a better understanding. Then for flashcards, I made the course specifications into flashcards and in addition, made flashcards from the book covering some areas discussed in the course specifications that I thought required more knowledge than using the knowledge from the course specifications alone, if that makes sense. (there’s no point turning everything from the book into flash cards, just pick and choose what seems most relevant in relation to the course spec) Then, after that, I would do past paper questions on the specific topic and if I got anything wrong I would look at the mark scheme, try to understand why I got it wrong and turn it into a flash card. I only really used anki for biology. For chemistry I used an app called smartcards+. It was just more convenient for me to use at the time. I still have them, but I feel like you are better off making your own flash cards… the information will stick better
Thank you!! Would you say smart cards in general is more convenient instead of anki for chemistry?
Original post by hussienmanaf6
Thank you!! Would you say smart cards in general is more convenient instead of anki for chemistry?
Original post by dorkpop2000
It was more convenient for me at the time because smart cards is free on iOS and I primarily used my iPad to study but anki is expensive (like nearly £25) on IOS but free on PC but I didn’t have a PC at the time. anki is also free on android.
I’m really sorry but would you mind sharing your flash cards I’ve left revision for way too late and I’m still learning content 😭
Original post by hussienmanaf6
I’m really sorry but would you mind sharing your flash cards I’ve left revision for way too late and I’m still learning content 😭
💀 lmao it’s ok, dm me
Original post by dorkpop2000
💀 lmao it’s ok, dm me
hey could u plz also share urs with me aswell? thanks
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