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English exams – Get the basics right: Part 2

Posted on May 18, 2013  by myetutor Subject: English, English Literature, Higher, Higher English, myetutor, Passing Higher English, Teaching

As in the last post, this post focuses on making sure you follow simple steps to exam success. A lot of this is commonsense. However, this is what goes out the window when you’re sitting the biggest exams of your … Continue reading →

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English exams – Get the basics right: Part 1

Posted on May 16, 2013  by myetutor Subject: English, Higher, Higher English, myetutor, Passing Higher English

Although the small things in life seem so trivial and unimportant, neglecting them can have massive consequences. The footballer who doesn’t tie their laces; the singer who doesn’t do a soundcheck; the teacher who doesn’t check ICT before an important … Continue reading →

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How high up is the school in the cloud?

Posted on May 6, 2013  by Michael Subject: Maths, Secondary, Society, Standard Grade, Studying, Teaching

It’s the start of May already, the sun (I think it’s the sun, its been a while!) is shining and exam leave is upon us. The fourths years left for exam leave a week ago and have already completed their … Continue reading →

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Higher English Close Reading – The last question

Posted on May 6, 2013  by Higher English Tutor Subject: English, Higher, Higher English, Secondary, Teaching

In a time out of mind the last question of the Higher English close reading paper used to be seriously intimidating. After 44 marks-worth of questions completed, you would then have to answer a 6 mark evaluation question. Given that … Continue reading →

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Higher English critical essay – topic sentence – transitional words

Posted on May 1, 2013  by Higher English Tutor Subject: English, Higher, Higher English, Passing Higher English, Teaching

  Writing in a way that in interesting should not be completely forgotten about when you’re writing your Higher English critical essay. A bit of creativity and style mixed in with the purpose is good. Ideally, essays about English should … Continue reading →

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Higher English close reading – Evaluation Questions

Posted on April 29, 2013  by Higher English Tutor Subject: English, Higher, Higher English, Passing Higher English, Secondary

Evaluation questions are the most difficult of all the questions you’ll face in Higher English close reading. Fortunately, if you don’t like evaluation questions, now that the last question has been changed from a comparative evaluation question to a summarising … Continue reading →

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Higher English – Finishing your critical essay

Posted on April 22, 2013  by Higher English Tutor Subject: English, Higher, Higher English, Passing Higher English, Secondary

A disappointing ending carries more weight than it is worth. You know what it is like when you watch a film or read a book. You have really enjoyed the film or the book, then you get to the end … Continue reading →

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Higher English – Using shorter quotations

Posted on April 9, 2013  by Higher English Tutor Subject: English, Higher, Higher English, Passing Higher English, Studying

Shorter might not be better; it’s not worse, but for some people, it can be easier. For some, learning large chunks of quotation isn’t going to happen, so learning more quotations but smaller ones might. To use short quotations in … Continue reading →

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Higher English – The Handmaid’s Tale – Understanding

Posted on April 3, 2013  by Higher English Tutor Subject: English, English Literature, Higher, Higher English, Passing Higher English, Studying

A popular text for Higher English is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. It is a contemporary classic. Partly because the writing is skilled, partly because the issues and themes in the book were relevant in the 1980s, and still … Continue reading →

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Higher English Folio – Persuasive Essay Introduction

Posted on March 31, 2013  by Higher English Tutor Subject: English, Higher, Higher English, Passing Higher English, Studying

It’s late. She (or he) has been working all day and has done another four hours since returning home – and they cooked the tea! They’re fed-up reading essays. Bored to death with reading essays. They all start the same … Continue reading →

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