s5 highers academic rant

hello, i am a student studying in S5 in Scotland
i take mostly stem subjects + modern studies and english- last year i got mostly As and a few Bs, which is good ig but this year for highers i got mostly Cs in my prelims which is honestly very humbling
okay tbf due to personal reasons i did not have the time nor opportunity to revise much during the winter break but the weird part is that whilst i know the content pretty well i still do horribly in tests and exams
i NEED to get As for uni and the thought of ending up in some random college in a course i dont like but i got due to my grades makes me want to throw up
so i’m going to genuinely try and revise well- this time of my academic year there will be many assignments and revision and such but i’m going to revise ALL units and chapters of my subject and do past papers and work hard everyday.
i get distracted easily though so lets see what i can do to tackle that
till this january i used to study with headphones on but now i don’t do it anymore and WOW i can lock in more now (a bit of an overstatement but whatever)
okay anyways i want to ask you, a complete stranger behind a screen, is it possible for me?? some of my teachers believe that i could get Bs but i’m still scared. my future depends on highers and i CANNOTTTT risk it for anything…
whats some of the best tips for studying ever?? how do i improve?? how do i learn better? and how do i apply it to sqa past papers? literally anything will be appreciated <3
p.s i’m sorry this post is a literal mess i promise that i am a better person that whatever this post makes you think of me

hello, i am a student studying in S5 in Scotland
i take mostly stem subjects + modern studies and english- last year i got mostly As and a few Bs, which is good ig but this year for highers i got mostly Cs in my prelims which is honestly very humbling
okay tbf due to personal reasons i did not have the time nor opportunity to revise much during the winter break but the weird part is that whilst i know the content pretty well i still do horribly in tests and exams
i NEED to get As for uni and the thought of ending up in some random college in a course i dont like but i got due to my grades makes me want to throw up
so i’m going to genuinely try and revise well- this time of my academic year there will be many assignments and revision and such but i’m going to revise ALL units and chapters of my subject and do past papers and work hard everyday.
i get distracted easily though so lets see what i can do to tackle that
till this january i used to study with headphones on but now i don’t do it anymore and WOW i can lock in more now (a bit of an overstatement but whatever)
okay anyways i want to ask you, a complete stranger behind a screen, is it possible for me?? some of my teachers believe that i could get Bs but i’m still scared. my future depends on highers and i CANNOTTTT risk it for anything…
whats some of the best tips for studying ever?? how do i improve?? how do i learn better? and how do i apply it to sqa past papers? literally anything will be appreciated <3
p.s i’m sorry this post is a literal mess i promise that i am a better person that whatever this post makes you think of me

for your STEM subjects, do literally every past paper to exist
the "jabchem" website has every past paper down to like 1980's for math chem bio and physics!

I wouldn’t bother with past papers from the 1980s (or 1990s)! Much too much has changed!

I wouldn’t bother with past papers from the 1980s (or 1990s)! Much too much has changed!

yea i agree tbf, if its a subject a struggle with (chemistry) i go down to like 2005, but for maths i stick to 2015+

yea i agree tbf, if its a subject a struggle with (chemistry) i go down to like 2005, but for maths i stick to 2015+

ayy youre the guy with that silly billy personality- i Rememebr you texting me and me texting you

yes that was me

Hi. I'm also in S5, and I got A's in my English and modern studies prelims, so hopefully I can help.
English
Scottish Set Text & Critical Essay:
For your critical essay, you want to essentially create a quote + analysis bank for each possible question (or at least most of them so that you can answer at least one question that comes up).
If you're doing a novel/short story, try to not just comment on word choice, talk about imagery and sentence structure too. If you're doing a play, talk about stage directions and other theatrical techniques, not just the dialogue. Same with a movie, dialogue isn't the only technique you should comment on. Mise-en-scene, camera angles, ect all make up a film and should therefore be mentioned.
I would check understanding standards for good critical essays and try to learn how to improve from that. Take note of what they did well and try to replicate it.
For your SST, you also want to create a quote + analysis bank, but for each key theme and any other possible ten marker questions. Try to get at least seven quotes from different parts of the text per theme/question.
For both your SST and critical essay, you're going to revise your quote banks like you would flashcards, and then employ this knowledge through past paper questions.
In my prelim I got 20/20 on the SST, and whilst I didn't do as well as expected on the critical essay, I did get full marks in my National 5 critical essay using this revision technique (I've learnt my lesson about sticking to what works).
I recommend you check out the "2025-26 Higher English Group Discussion" thread as I've given out lots of advice there.
RUAE
I've not sat an RUAE prelim at Higher yet, but I am consistently doing well when completing practice questions in class.
As other people are also likely to tell you, reading a wide variety of opinion pieces in newspapers/tabloids is really useful for revising RUAE. It introduces you to new vocabulary that you haven't seen before, and gets you used to the style of writing in RUAE passages. Some people even create RUAE questions for articles that they've read as practice. Whilst I've not done this myself, it sounds like a great idea and I do plan to do this.
One the things with RUAE is the answer is usually the easiest quote to pick out. The more obscure a quote is, even if it's correct, the less likely it is to be accepted as an answer. RUAE marking is much stricter than in the critical reading paper as it's less objective. Therefore, it can be really useful to get to grips with the marking scheme. As you do past papers, look for patterns in the marking scheme.
Folio
Definitely make sure that you listen to your teacher's feedback for your folio piece when editing. In this scenario, they know best and I learnt that the hard way at National 5.
If your teacher's feedback isn't great, I recommend going to study support at school to ask another English teacher how they think you could improve.
Modern Studies
Paper 1
I scored 100% in my paper 1 prelim, and this is largely due to understanding the essay structure. I've given advice for this in the threads "Higher Modern Studies analysis help" and "2025-26 Higher Modern Studies Group Discussion". In both of those threads I've gone into tons of detail about essay structure.
Learning the essays is another beast though. I'm going to be honest, I could have revised the essays better for my prelim, it's just that I used associations and short-term memory to cram because I knew I could skate by doing so.
For the prelim, I read over each of my essays a couple of times before highlighting the important information in each paragraph. I highlighted each paragraph in a different colour of pen. Please, don't just do this if you're going to do it at all.
For the final exam, I plan on being more organised than this. Whilst this did work, I'm planning on making revision guides that have the evidence plus any key information summarised with my essays written out below. I will also be using blurting to revise my essays come the final exam.
When I was choosing between essay questions in the prelim, I wrote the factors down on the side of the question paper so that I couldn't forget them mid-essay.
Paper 2
Paper 2 is all about memorising the structure of the three questions. Slightly frustratingly, the only way to really do this is to do past paper questions.
It is also more than possible to get B's and even A's in your final exams. My best friend failed two of her Higher prelims (one of which being English) and got a D in her Higher Modern Studies prelim, and got straight A's in her final exams. The only thing you can do is to try your best.
I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions or would like me to go more in-depth about something, feel free to ask me. 😊

Random college courses aren’t the end of the world, I know quite a few people who have made it to good universities and jobs via college.
But for now - don’t panic. You need to be systematic with your work, starting with assessments - you need to focus on these especially where they form a significant part of your marks. After that I would work out exactly how much time you have until each exam suggest drawing up a proper timetable. Don’t be too overambitious eg six hours per night after school would be totally unattainable and leave you disillusioned. Make sure your timetable gives reasonable lengths of study followed by a break. The advantage of a timetable is it is very easy to procrastinate or feel overwhelmed by the task. A timetable breaks it down into manageable chunks or work and time. And, importantly, allow to you ‘clock off’ for a couple of hours each day knowing you have spent a good amount of time studying.
Go through each of your prelim papers and see where you have lost marks. This might make it clear what you need to do. Make use of your teachers - attend any revision sessions they put on, ask them about things you are struggling with.

Theres only 5 highers student generally take which one did you take. Becuase if youre applying stem the good ones then you need really at 3 A and 2B but if your applying medium stem subject then few As would be enough. The bottom line is for doing stem subject in uni you need Bs generally. Use flashacrd , get a tutor and a very sad but a crucial advice is that sacrifice your social life if you want those As. Sacrificing your social life puts you in the zone- this is why introverts are more nerdy and succefull in academic than extroverts.

for your STEM subjects, do literally every past paper to exist
the "jabchem" website has every past paper down to like 1980's for math chem bio and physics!