Ds2 struggling with Higher English (in Scotland)

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We've just had ds2's report, and after having done really well in his standard grades (all 1s), he is really struggling with Higher English, and his teacher says he needs to work harder in order to achieve a pass. He says he finds it hard to get his thoughts down on the page, and he's also having difficulty seeing and understanding the themes in the literature, particularly the Wilfred Owen poems.

My first thought was that he needs to read more - and read a wider variety of books, particularly good or classic literature - because not only will this expose him to plenty of good writing, vocabulary and construction (which I assume would spill over into his own writing), but it will also give him practice at understanding the themes of different books.

I'm also going to look for some Higher English study guides today, which hopefully should help him.

But do any mumsnetters have any other advice for me/him?

My oldest sat Higher English last year and managed a C - this was after also achieving all 1s in the standard grades and always highly achieving in English and being called 'gifted' by his English teacher.
He said he found it difficult to constrain everything he thought and put down on paper in a limited time span. Anything written in an exam requiring thinking - well the marks were gradually getting lower but 'black and white' answers for such things as maths and science exams still easy and he achieved As in Maths, Chem and Physics.
Would say though that unless he wants to read a variety of literature it is not something that you can really 'force' (for want of a better word!) on him.

The way I looked at it was he achieved the higher in English, though at a lower grade that he perhaps should have got, and he's got the results in the other Highers to take the course he wants at Uni.
Problem I think too is that so much work is required to do 5 highers and the English one takes up a lot of time - going over guides and answers etc and can be quite protracted - so it is difficult to give it the time it needs.
If he needs Higher English at an A then look at employing a tutor. You could always see how he does in the prelim and take it from there.
Another thought - is he worried himself about it? Lots of sites on interest about specific books and the themes in them too.

Good luck

Thanks, Need - that's useful advice. Tbh, as he wants to do a maths degree, a pass at Higher English may be sufficient - I hadn't thought of that, so that's reassuring.

Just had parents night, and got useful sheet from teacher re higher English. My Internet is down but will post advice from it when it's back on.

Meant to say DS has same issue - eight 1s last year. Coasted through. Now struggling in English.

Thanks, Agent.

Note how the professionals use English language. Find the time to read a newspaper or three ? don?t stick with just one. They are mostly all free at www.thebigproject.co.uk/news/. Try the different editorial sections. Look at the language technique ? not the story. And Google Creative Writing Magic Money Cards which outline most of the techniques ? even for adults. Read a hard copy or two of newspapers and magazines also ?this gives a different angle on how words have to be used to powerfully communicate a message in a limited space.

Thankyou, maree - I had already told ds2 he should be reading the paper every day (we get a good quality broadsheet), but I didn't realise he could get more online - I will pass that link on to him, as well as the Creative writing cards you suggest. You're right about looking at the editorial sections too - I will pass all this on to him.

I raided Smiths today, and came away with a revision notes book and a book of practice papers, so that should give him something to get him going, too.

Try to make sure his Folio is as strong as possible as this may give him a slight cushion. Newspapers a must. Get him to look for and comment on sentence structure, a sentence that functions as a link, identify words that contribute to his understanding of the tone and see if it changes. See if he can rephrase an interesting section in his own words. This shouldn't take him long and will help him to get to grips with frequently asked Close Reading questions. If he is not engaging with the texts I can suggest poems and short stoties that I teach at Higher and Int 2.

Sorry, not able to offer much advice but some reassurance that a pass is achievable. DS only got a 3 for English at Standard Grade but got a B at Int2 the following year and a C at higher the year after. He was not much of a reader - just did the reading required for the course. I know quite a few people whose DCs achieved As in Higher maths and sciences but only a C in English. If your DC wants to do maths at uni, a pass in English should be all he needs.

Arrgghhh - I didn't even know he had a Folio, Fuctifano! I know ds1 is doing a big piece of written work on two major works of literature - because we've had a panic about that too. He's chosen two works by Russian authors, and one of them exists in two forms - the original, and the heavily edited and changed one that was done to get past the State censors in Russia. We bought the wrong one, and now ds1 has found out, we've had to buy a copy of the original, and he has to read it, all 92 chapters (Russian authors are so succinct!), and redo all the work he's done on it.

I will pass onto him your advice about how to study editorials, and would be grateful for some suggestions of other things he could read. I've given him Jane Eyre and Robinson Crusoe - but have no idea whether these are appropriate, and they are quite substantial so may not be very helpful for him at the moment.

And thankyou for the reassurance, Cecily - it is much appreciated.

Oh it was a long time ago but when I did Higher English there was a huge jump from St grade. Much more thinking required.

The fact that he has read both versions of this Russian book are a good thing - he should make a point of referencing the differences, reasons for it etc.

My number one tip is to read the introductions and scholarly essays included in a book eg special anniversary edition. You can pick up loads of context very easily there.

Has he read all the typical dystopia stuff - 1984, Clockwork Orange, Brave New World etc. Very good for comparisons (and teenage angst!)

I will mention those to him, Albrecht - thanks.

MY DS1 struggled with Higher English (a couple of years ago, he's now 1st year Uni), after getting a "1" at SG. REALLY struggled. Just wasn't getting what the examiners were looking for. For the Prelim in Jan, he got a fail (D) by a couple of %, later remarked to a C. I think the remark was because only a handful of people in the class passed, and these were the "top" students. The dept was very unhelpful, telling them to study harder, but not what they were doing wrong. After buying a past-papers book with answer sheets, and downloading from the SQA the examiners marking advice, it became apparent that DS (and his friends) were not answering the questions in the way that was required to get the marks on offer for each question - they were not being taught HOW to answer the questions. There is a letter code at each question, and this determines what form the answer is supposed to take, and a perfectly sensible and seemingly full answer (IMO anyway) such as DS had written, might only pick up 1 or 2 marks out of 3 under the marking code. I was fairly shocked that none of this was explained to the DC.

I would strongly recommend (for all subjects, not just English), buying/downloading Past-papers with answers, getting DC to do them as part of study, then marking them. The point of marking them is not to see what they have got RIGHT, but to see what they have got WRONG, even if they are scoring 80%, look at the wrong answers and compare with the examiners sample answers/answer sheet as that will be a lot more productive than "Just read more" or "Study harder".

DS1 got an A in the real exam, and felt it was all down to his work with past papers.

Thankyou, oldmum - I will do that, and I'll have a look at the SQA site too - I hadn't thought of that.

Mumsnet is truly an amazing resource - so many knowlegeable and experience people willing to share what they know - I knew I could rely on mumsnetters for help.

There is now a huge amount of stuff on the SQA website which can be down loaded for free - including past papers, but TBH, by the time you pay for paper and printer ink, you may be as well to buy from AMAZON (cheap with a large range available), not least because the pages are all bound an wont get lost/mixed up! Rarer subjects like Latin or Tech studies may not have past papers available to buy, so the SQA site is great for those.

Hi again here is info on the Folio:
www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/EnglishWritingFolioGeneralGuidance.pdf
As this is a Scottish exam - Scottish texts are popular, here is a nice short story by a contemporary Scottish writer whose use of colloquialism makes for interesting comments on understanding the narrative point of view and central character.
www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/teachers/pdf/14plus/sss/glisters.pdf
Poets like Edwin Morgan (lots of good stuff on the BBC revision pages), Iain Crichton Smith and Duffy of course are challenging enough for Higher but memorable for the Critical Essay paper.

i would try to get him to read EVERYTHING, not just what you think of as 'literature'. It will improve his vocabulary, grammar and language processing. I liked iain banks and irvine welsh stuff when i was a teenager, also read my dad's Herald all the time, so encourage him to read a broadsheet.

The good news is, he's got time to improve enough before the exam in may. If he's only in 5th year he could technically do it again next year if he doesnt manage a pass, though it would be good to get it out of the way.

Finding higher English hard after doing well at S grade is very common. I absolutely believe in promoting reading as much as possible but to be honest, if your ds starts reading the classics now he is not actually going to manage very many books between now and his exams in May, particularly if he is doing 5 highers. Its probably not going to make that much difference to his result.
I hate saying this but given that he will need Higher English to get to uni you might want to consider a tutor. Good English tutors are absolutely like gold dust, lots of parents keep theirs from S4 to S5, so don't reckon on being able to find someone at Easter time if your son is still struggling then. Good luck!

I'd agree with comments that there's a big jump between Standard Grade and Higher.

My dd sat her higher English this year. She was also finding the course very difficult.

What helped her the most was reading over past essays that had been written the year before by a boy who had achieved an A pass.

It showed her what the SQA was looking for and she realised that Higher was quite a big step up from Standard Grade.

Also past papers are the way to go.

She isn't a big reader partly because she just doesn't get the time.

After school English support classes are also very beneficial.

She managed to get an A pass so all the extra work helped.

Audigirl, that's useful information. Where did she find the essays - are they online somewhere?

She got them from her teacher.

She also liked the 'How to Pass' books (Leckie&Leckie) and the Revision Guides.

If we had been out for the day i would ask her to write a short essay about the day then we would look to see what words she could maybe replace with something a bit more grown up or descriptive.

She wasn't always willing to write, moody teenagers and all that, but i would just leave her alone if she wasn't in the mood.

She's doing Advanced Highers this year so she knows a bit of work will pay off.

Hope this helps

Trying to help get my ds through his Standard Grades this year.

Thanks. I've got one doing highers and one doing standard grades. Think of me in May - I'll be the one silently rocking in the corner!