Higher English

Niall · 2nd May 2005, 01:43 PM

, ahh this is killing me having to write essays none stop for the higher English exam, -a week on Friday-. What did anyone other UGS'rs do essays on for their chosen texts in the exam?
I've got a good few poems, and 3 short stories im revising, but tring to avoid Romeo + Juliet at all costs, it's a total killer

AlanG · 2nd May 2005, 01:52 PM

check your three chosen poems can meet the spec of the 2 questions you have to do (if numbers are wrong I apologise).

I tried to write a bit, notes at minimum to fit each poem to each category or style of question.

The best thing you can do is preperation, memorise the quotes that are the most important parts of the poems as well as knowing their interpretation.

The teachers/lecturers keep saying it but doing past papers is the best way to prepare for the exam. I did about 2 hrs/night on English the week before the exam mainly past papers/practicing interpretations.

Rebelius · 2nd May 2005, 01:56 PM

Higher English is a joke

I spent the whole year writing essays on Death Of A Salesman, Smeddum by Grassic Gibbon and Edwin Morgan poems. Then in the last couple of weeks of term we did a poem and another short story to give us more texts incase nothing came up that we could answer.

So come the exam i end up writting about The things we did in the last 2 weeks of term: Whole Town's Sleeping by Ray Bradbury(short story) and Death of a Naturalist(poem) by Seamus Heaney. Shitty English.

I got a B-3.

My advice to anyone with a science brain who doesnt need higher english for whatever they want to do after school is to not do it, I found it so much more work than my other highers and i didnt even need it. Wish I'd done Information Systems instead.

Edit: Alan, you get five sections of questions: Drama, Poetry, Prose, Mass Media and Language. (We didnt do anything on Media or Language) and you have to answer 2 questions from different sections.

As for Close Reading: Past Papers, Past Papers, Past Papers.

Niall · 2nd May 2005, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan G

The teachers/lecturers keep saying it but doing past papers is the best way to prepare for the exam. I did about 2 hrs/night on English the week before the exam mainly past papers/practicing interpretations.

yeh, i think im gonna take a few days off school before it, as they haven't given us any study leave this year before english, which is slightly annoying, as english is considered one of the hardest exams. but yeh, im gona start doing a past paper each night until it from now on in, its a waste of a year to come out with nothing, but its a bit of a push in comparison to what standard grade was last year.

Niall · 2nd May 2005, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rebelius

My advice to anyone with a science brain who doesnt need higher english for whatever they want to do after school is to not do it, I found it so much more work than my other highers and i didnt even need it. Wish I'd done Information Systems instead.

at the school i'm at, we get made to do it in 5th year, its the only thing you're able to pick at that part of the timetable. but do you not need it in almost any science related job regardless of how much it was used? i thought it was needed to get into most half respectable university courses

chrono · 2nd May 2005, 02:05 PM

Smeddum! Edwin Morgan! I remember it all!

I did an Edwin Morgan poem and Romeo and Juliet. I also did a kickass RPR of One Flew over a Cuckoo's Nest and wrote a super short story (although i did kinda nick some writing structure from John Paul Satre, basic premise from the song New Birds by Arab Strap and a line from CODY by Mogwai. *SHAME*).

Then I had all the teachers fawning over the band one A i got. Fuck. Talk about wasted talent! I should really get started on the Great Dundonian Novel

Rebelius · 2nd May 2005, 02:07 PM

At ours, we had English/Info Systems in column 1 but you were allowed to drop 1 column anyway. Lots of people dropped english.

nope. it's not needed for most engineering courses. I'm doing Maths at Edinburgh next year, didnt need english for that. didnt need it for any of my 6 choices. Edinburgh just asked for something like ABBC with a good grade in maths. Didnt seem to care what the other subjects were.

seonaid · 2nd May 2005, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Niall

, ahh this is killing me having to write essays none stop for the higher English exam, -a week on Friday-. What did anyone other UGS'rs do essays on for their chosen texts in the exam?
I've got a good few poems, and 3 short stories im revising, but tring to avoid Romeo + Juliet at all costs, it's a total killer

romeo and juliet is a piece of piss

there's only six/seven important quotes in the play and they can be used in every question that will be set for the text

Mr Creosote · 2nd May 2005, 04:20 PM

the RPR is stupid, your ability to use the english language and your ability to criticise someone elses work are two different things. not everyone wants to be a bloody critic, some of us just like to enjoy a good book without disecting it. i started doing mine on a clockwork orange at school, then left before i did my exams, fucked up my first attempt at college cos i was having too much fun meeting real human beings, then just scraped by when i did it as a night class the next year, and it was my RPR that fucked me every time.

Mean Girl · 2nd May 2005, 04:50 PM

we did othello, twice shy, sunset song, and something else....i did standard grade texts, cause they're all pure shite

Lindsay · 2nd May 2005, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

the RPR is stupid, your ability to use the english language and your ability to criticise someone elses work are two different things. not everyone wants to be a bloody critic, some of us just like to enjoy a good book without disecting it. i started doing mine on a clockwork orange at school, then left before i did my exams, fucked up my first attempt at college cos i was having too much fun meeting real human beings, then just scraped by when i did it as a night class the next year, and it was my RPR that fucked me every time.

i thought the purpose of the rpr was to test your individual ability to understand literature.

Mr Creosote · 2nd May 2005, 05:11 PM

that's what they say it's about, but what it amounts to is criticising someone else's work.

Lindsay · 2nd May 2005, 05:13 PM

i know. in order to show if you understand it or not.

Mr Creosote · 2nd May 2005, 05:17 PM

that's bollocks though, you might have understood it differently from the person marking it, seen a subtext they didn't, taken a symbol to have a different meaning from them, quite apart from anything else, they're not going to have read every book that people do their RPRs on, so how the fuck are they going to know if you understand a book they haven't read?

{valentine*} · 2nd May 2005, 05:22 PM

I did corpsing by toby litt.

because it was easy

because of the way its written.

2nd May 2005, 01:43 PM	#1 (permalink)
Niall Cool Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Dundee Posts: 1,016	Higher English , ahh this is killing me having to write essays none stop for the higher English exam, -a week on Friday-. What did anyone other UGS'rs do essays on for their chosen texts in the exam? I've got a good few poems, and 3 short stories im revising, but tring to avoid Romeo + Juliet at all costs, it's a total killer

2nd May 2005, 01:52 PM	#2 (permalink)
AlanG ModSword +5 of Editing Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Dundee Posts: 3,311	check your three chosen poems can meet the spec of the 2 questions you have to do (if numbers are wrong I apologise). I tried to write a bit, notes at minimum to fit each poem to each category or style of question. The best thing you can do is preperation, memorise the quotes that are the most important parts of the poems as well as knowing their interpretation. The teachers/lecturers keep saying it but doing past papers is the best way to prepare for the exam. I did about 2 hrs/night on English the week before the exam mainly past papers/practicing interpretations. __________________ Ernie Ross - "I'm not a rent-a-quote MP" 10 Sep 04 Ernie Ross being a rent-a-quote MP 23 Jul 04

2nd May 2005, 01:56 PM	#3 (permalink)
Rebelius Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 7,147	Higher English is a joke I spent the whole year writing essays on Death Of A Salesman, Smeddum by Grassic Gibbon and Edwin Morgan poems. Then in the last couple of weeks of term we did a poem and another short story to give us more texts incase nothing came up that we could answer. So come the exam i end up writting about The things we did in the last 2 weeks of term: Whole Town's Sleeping by Ray Bradbury(short story) and Death of a Naturalist(poem) by Seamus Heaney. Shitty English. I got a B-3. My advice to anyone with a science brain who doesnt need higher english for whatever they want to do after school is to not do it, I found it so much more work than my other highers and i didnt even need it. Wish I'd done Information Systems instead. Edit: Alan, you get five sections of questions: Drama, Poetry, Prose, Mass Media and Language. (We didnt do anything on Media or Language) and you have to answer 2 questions from different sections. As for Close Reading: Past Papers, Past Papers, Past Papers. Last edited by Rebelius : 2nd May 2005 at 02:03 PM.

2nd May 2005, 02:05 PM	#6 (permalink)
chrono Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dundee Posts: 1,140	Smeddum! Edwin Morgan! I remember it all! I did an Edwin Morgan poem and Romeo and Juliet. I also did a kickass RPR of One Flew over a Cuckoo's Nest and wrote a super short story (although i did kinda nick some writing structure from John Paul Satre, basic premise from the song New Birds by Arab Strap and a line from CODY by Mogwai. SHAME). Then I had all the teachers fawning over the band one A i got. Fuck. Talk about wasted talent! I should really get started on the Great Dundonian Novel

2nd May 2005, 02:07 PM	#7 (permalink)
Rebelius Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 7,147	At ours, we had English/Info Systems in column 1 but you were allowed to drop 1 column anyway. Lots of people dropped english. nope. it's not needed for most engineering courses. I'm doing Maths at Edinburgh next year, didnt need english for that. didnt need it for any of my 6 choices. Edinburgh just asked for something like ABBC with a good grade in maths. Didnt seem to care what the other subjects were.

2nd May 2005, 04:20 PM	#9 (permalink)
Mr Creosote General Refribulator Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: dundee Posts: 188	the RPR is stupid, your ability to use the english language and your ability to criticise someone elses work are two different things. not everyone wants to be a bloody critic, some of us just like to enjoy a good book without disecting it. i started doing mine on a clockwork orange at school, then left before i did my exams, fucked up my first attempt at college cos i was having too much fun meeting real human beings, then just scraped by when i did it as a night class the next year, and it was my RPR that fucked me every time.

2nd May 2005, 04:50 PM	#10 (permalink)
Mean Girl Senior Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Barnhill/Broughty Ferry Posts: 635	we did othello, twice shy, sunset song, and something else....i did standard grade texts, cause they're all pure shite

2nd May 2005, 05:11 PM	#12 (permalink)
Mr Creosote General Refribulator Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: dundee Posts: 188	that's what they say it's about, but what it amounts to is criticising someone else's work.

2nd May 2005, 05:13 PM	#13 (permalink)
Lindsay eighties fan Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Glasgow Posts: 7,594	i know. in order to show if you understand it or not.

2nd May 2005, 05:17 PM	#14 (permalink)
Mr Creosote General Refribulator Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: dundee Posts: 188	that's bollocks though, you might have understood it differently from the person marking it, seen a subtext they didn't, taken a symbol to have a different meaning from them, quite apart from anything else, they're not going to have read every book that people do their RPRs on, so how the fuck are they going to know if you understand a book they haven't read?

2nd May 2005, 05:22 PM	#15 (permalink)
{valentine*} everybody needs somebody Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dundee Posts: 4,196	I did corpsing by toby litt. because it was easy because of the way its written.