All A's at Higher- Ask me anything!

I've seen a few others do this with other exams around the site, so I thought I'd do this for SQA Highers.

Last year I sat Highers in Maths, English, Biology, Chemistry and German, alongside AH Music (as an extra), in which I received all A1's.

If you would like some subject specific advice, or just some general revision advice, I would be more than happy to help- please do ask me anything!

I hope that this helps!

Reply 1

Chrystele

Congrats on your results! They’re amazing. Just wondering if you have any good revision tips. How did you manage with the step up from Nat 5?

Reply 2

W_Mac744

Original post by Chrystele

Congrats on your results! They’re amazing. Just wondering if you have any good revision tips. How did you manage with the step up from Nat 5?

Thank you!

That's a really good question, there is no doubt that the step from N5 to H is large, however this is not something to worry about- ultimately it is a very similar process to your N5's, just with more advanced content.

-I think being proactive is very important- as you go through your courses, if there is anything you are unsure of, sort this out at the time. This will mean spending time going over stuff outside of school, using textbooks, youtube videos, practice questions etc. - if there is something you are finding particularly difficult in class, spending time on it at home as soon as you can is essential. An example of this for me this was chemistry calculations- I got the textbook and went through the chapter myself, and then moved onto questions until I was completely confident.

-Revising as you go through your courses, and putting in work throughout the whole year is also very important- of course your workloads will change throughout the year, but I believe that consistency is key with your Highers. You'll find that you will go through content quickly, so spending time yourself going through what you have just learned is important- e.g in Biology sometimes we would finish a key area in class in a single lesson, so I spent time myself looking over that lesson and getting that knowledge in my head whilst we had moved onto a different topic.

-Taking end of unit/class tests seriously is very effective- going through the process of revising properly for them, and getting that specific knowledge into your head makes coming back to those particular topics later on in the year much easier, as time has been spent on them previously. Likewise, take prelims as seriously as you can, simply because experiencing things under exam conditions is so important and such good practice.

-QUALITY OVER QUANTITY! Revising in manageable portions of time is much more effective that for doing it for hours on end at a time. Firstly, set out goals on what you want to revise, then switch between topics/subjects every 45 minutes or so. Use revision time effectively (this time does not include making notes/flashcards etc.)

-Save past papers for as long as you can- do not rush into them. There are plenty of practice/ textbook questions out there. Ideally, when you are doing whole course revision, that is when you should complete entire past papers, under exam conditions with correct timings etc.

-Read the course specification documents- for Biology and chemistry especially, this document was useful for showing me exactly I needed to know- it contains all the wording that the SQA wants. Know the layout of your courses.

-One study technique that I found especially effective was blurting, i.e writing everything I knew from memory about a specific topic- this truly ironed out anything I was unsure about, and pinpointed what I needed to work on.

-With essays for English, and other subjects I'm sure, timed practice was so important- you eventually get into the groove of writing quickly and accurately in these short spaces of time.

Above all though, enjoy your subjects! Put in the hard work now so that you feel confident come exam time.

I really hope this helps, if you would like more subject specific advice I could do that too.

Reply 3

Ode8Martin

Original post by W_Mac744

I've seen a few others do this with other exams around the site, so I thought I'd do this for SQA Highers.
Last year I sat Highers in Maths, English, Biology, Chemistry and German, alongside AH Music (as an extra), in which I received all A1's.
If you would like some subject specific advice, or just some general revision advice, I would be more than happy to help- please do ask me anything!
I hope that this helps!

Congrats on your results those are unbelievable! I'm going into Year 12th soon and one of the subjects I've picked in French. I was just wondering what tips in general do you have for foreign language subjects and how to excel in this. This is coming from someone who's only just been good at grammar and maybe a bit of reading/writing.

Reply 4

W_Mac744

Original post by Ode8Martin

Hey, I think the best thing you can do for foreign languages is to expose yourself to them as much as possible. Listen to music in your language for example, or perhaps read news articles to pick up some vocabulary. I think being good at grammar is great also, and is something also that is worth spending a lot of time on- ultimately if you know grammar, you know how the language works and will be able to talk and write with fluency. Try also to speak French as much as you can, ideally with others to really get in your head how the language sounds- this is important also for reading your work out loud. Making sure you are confident and well practiced in all aspects of your exam (i.e reading, writing, listening and talking) is key- being consistent with languages is so important, do a little bit everyday.

Hope this helps!

Reply 5

hellzone

have you got any tips for higher music? im crashing it this year so im just wondering if you have any advice to getting an A

Reply 6

aloeplant

Hi! Great results btw! I'm doing Highers this year and all the teachers keep talking about how I need to do like 30 minutes of revising for each subject i had that day after school. This would be an hour and a half in total as i have 3 subjects a day.

I want to get all As and was wondering if this is actually necessary, obviously i will spend time revising and carefully go over stuff I don't understand. I feel like revising everyday would burn me out so fast!!!

Please keep in mind i have other responsibilities, im in quite a few clubs and also just want to do hobbies and have a social life. And I honestly feel this wouldn't even be physically possible for me on some days.