Overview (SQA National 5 English): Revision Note
Exam code: X824 75
The SQA National 5 English qualification consists of two compulsory exam papers and a writing portfolio. There is also a spoken-language component which is assessed internally and reported separately from your final grade.
National 5 English course overview
Component | Title | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
1 | Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation (RUAE) | 30% |
2 | Critical Reading: Scottish Texts | 20% |
2 | Critical Reading: Critical Essay | 20% |
Portfolio | Creative/Discursive Writing | 30% |
Performance | Spoken Language | N/A |
Critical Reading Section 1: Scottish texts exam
The National 5 English Critical Reading: Scottish Texts paper tests your ability to read, understand and analyse a piece of writing from a Scottish writer. This paper focuses on your ability to think critically about how writers use language, structure and literary devices to create meaning.
This paper is designed to assess how well you can:
Understand the writer’s ideas and themes
Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to create meaning
Evaluate how effectively the writer explores ideas
Make connections between the extract and the wider text
How is the Critical Reading Section 1 paper assessed?
You will answer questions based on an extract from a Scottish text you have already studied. This could be a poem, short story or an extract from a novel or play. The questions test both your understanding of the extract and your ability to connect it to the rest of the text.
Critical Reading Section 1 | |
|---|---|
Text type | Extract from a studied Scottish text |
Number of questions | 4-5 questions |
Skills assessed |
|
Mark available | 20 marks total |
Timing | Approximately 45 minutes |
Timings
You should aim to spend:
10 minutes reading and annotating the extract
30 minutes answering the questions
5 minutes checking your answers
Section 1: Scottish texts
There are a number of Scottish texts which you can choose to study:
Drama | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
Yellow Moon | David Greig | |
Sailmaker | Alan Spence | |
Tally’s Blood | Ann Marie di Mambro | |
Prose | Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | Robert Louis Stevenson |
Duck Feet | Ely Percy | |
Short Stories (All that Glisters, Hieroglyphics, Me and the Babbie, Loast) | Anne Donovan | |
Scottish short stories | Helen McClory, Kirsty Logan, George Mackay Brown, Duncan Williamson | |
Poetry | ‘Originally’, ‘Mrs Midas’, ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’, ‘Medusa’, ‘Havisham’, ‘Before You Were Mine’ | Carol Ann Duffy |
‘Aunt Julia’, ‘Hotel room’, ‘12th floor’, ‘Basking shark’, ‘On Lachie’s Croft’, ‘Landscape and I’, ‘Old Highland Woman’ | Norman MacCaig | |
‘Gap Year’, ‘Keeping Orchids’, ‘Whilst Leila Sleeps’, ‘Grandpa’s Soup’, ‘Darling’, ‘Maw Broon Visits a Therapist’ | Jackie Kay | |
‘In the Snack-bar’, ‘Trio’, ‘Glasgow Sonnet I’, ‘Strawberries’, ‘Love’, ‘Death on Duke Street’ | Edwin Morgan | |
National 5 Scottish poetry collection: ‘The Bonnie Earl o’ Moray’ (traditional ballad), ‘The Twa Corbie’s (traditional ballad), ‘A Red, Red Rose’, ‘Lochinvar’, ‘Auntie’ by Nadine Aisha Jassat, ‘Little Girls’ | Traditional, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Nadine Aisha Jassat, Len Pennie |
What are the main command words for Section 1?
Knowing the main command words that will be used in an exam paper, and what they mean, can be helpful in understanding what is expected of you in the exam. This table covers some of the common command words you should expect to see in Section 1 of the exam.
Command words | Meaning |
|---|---|
Identify or summarise |
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Explain: |
|
Show |
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Learn more
Discover more SQA National 5 English Scottish Texts exam tips in our expert revision notes:
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