S4,5,6 How to pass your National Qualifications

Craigmount High School

How do you Pass Your SQA

Exams?

The

$64,000

Question

Presenters

Dr John Campbell Headteacher

Mr Kevin Boyle: Scottish Qualifications Authority

Mrs Denise Blair; Curriculum Leader Maths

Mr Andrew Jardine; Curriculum Leader English

Simple message

• Attend

• Work

• Not just the classroom

• Ds and no awards. Beware!

• Understand the shape of the course

• Tutors, books and extra classes

• Read, view, listen with your son/ daughter

• Get involved!

Kevin Boyle

SQA

How to pass

English2014/15

Andrew Jardine

Curriculum Leader English

CLOSE READING

• Candidates read two passages and

answer questions on them

• The exam lasts 1 hour 45 minutes

WRITING FOLIO

• DISCURSIVE /PERSUASIVE

• CREATIVE /REFLECTIVE

• Candidates must submit two typed , proof

read essays

• No more than 1300 words per essay

• Plagiarism is frowned upon

CRITICAL ESSAYS

• Candidates will

study 2 or 3 texts

and answer on two

in the exam

• The exam lasts for

90 minutes

• Choose from:

• Poetry

• Prose (

Novel/Short

stories)

• Drama

• Film/TV

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

• This is a Unit

Assessmentand

does not feature in

the final exam or

the prelim

• Candidates need

to answer

questions on an

unseen text

• The exam paper

lasts one hour

• The text can be a

poem , an extract

from a play or an

extract from a

prose text.

Unit Assessments

• These are at

minimum

competency

• They are designed

to see if candidates

are being entered

for the appropriate

level of the course

• You will be given

two attempts at a

Unit Assessment

• Failure to pass the

second attempt will

result in a change

of level

SQA

• www.sqa.org.uk

• We are presenting candidates for the old

Higher not the CfE version

• The Higher exam is on May 15th 2015

• The website has past papers and advice

for candidates

READING

• Wider reading of broadsheet newspapers

and/or similar level websites will help with

vocabulary acquisition and prepare you for

the level of language you’ll experience in

the exams

• It is obviously important to read and re

read the exam texts but wider reading of

other texts can help as well

BBC BITESIZE

• This site has been recently updated but

the Higher section still has important

support and revision tests

• Your exam texts may feature here but

many other sites are also useful

• Cliff and Spark notes may be written for

your text and are available free of charge,

York notes can be purchased

PRACTICE PAPERS

• Leckie and Leckie publish excellent

practice papers

• This is the last year of the old Higher and

they may be cheaper to buy

• Often Leckie and Leckie will provide

discounts for Young Scot card holders

PAST PAPERS

• Bright Red publishing produce past papers

for this Course

• You will normally find specimen papers on

the SQA website

S4/5/6 Mathematics

Denise Blair

Curriculum Leader Mathematics and Numeracy

S4/5/6 Maths

• IFS Personal Finance

• National 4/5 Maths

• Higher (old)

• Advanced Higher

Revision and Practice

• Maths staff• Practice papers• Past papers• Textbooks• Websiteshttps://edinburgh.edmodo.com/

www.scholar.hw.ac.uk/

www.hsn.uk.net

www.mathsrevision.com

Homestudy

Students have Maths homework MOST days. • (read over classwork/notes or finish

class tasks)

• They have a “hand in” end of each topic.Given at least 3 or 4 days to complete

How you can help?

Parent Information BookletBooklet is designed so that you can use it with your child throughout the session to help them to learn the key facts and methods.

Unit 1 is typically completed by mid-October

Unit 2 is typically completed by January

Unit 3 is typically completed by March

(The section on Intermediate 2/National 5 revision is fair game at any time of the course – your child should already know it all!)

AssessmentsUnits Assessments

School extended assessment

School prelim

H Paper 1 – now 1 hour 30 minutesH Paper 2 – now 1 hour 10 minutes

Paper 1Section A Section B

20 objective test questions (SQA call them items), 2 marks per question. Total 40 marks

non calculator or calculator neutral longer questions.Total 30 marks

Paper 2 More problem solving typed questions. There will be no short questions as these areas will have been covered within the longer Paper 1.Total 60 marks

Total Paper 130 marksAn “A” is never below 75% in Higher

We need to add to

all the above …

Positive

Attitude

Mindset

‘Don’t tell me how talented you

are. Tell me how hard you

work.’

Artur Rubenstein

They need to

learn it’s ok to

make mistakes,

as long as they

try again…

Resilience‘If there is no struggle, there

is no progress.’

F. Douglass

‘When you praise kids for

their ability, it makes them

focus on looking good—not

on learning.’

Prof Carol Dweck