1. Revising for the Higher exam
Higher French, German and Spanish

2. It is easier to know how to revise for a science or social science subject.
This presentation is aiming to help you achieve the grade you would like in a language!

3. Know what you want
Goal!
Decide what grade you are aiming for
40% get an A, 20% get a B
Give yourself an estimate for the speaking test
Now work out what mark out of 70 you need for that grade!
Look at your strengths and weaknesses as you stand now
Be realistic as to what you can improve

4. Know what you want
The facts
On average, Higher Candidates get 60+% for Paper 1, 50+% for Paper 2
For Reading and Listening, the main areas for improvement are in developing your skills
For translation, practice is what counts
Directed Writing can be 75% prepared for in advance
Personal Response Writing can be about 50% prepared

5. The three skills
Listening
This is very much a skill, which you get better at with practice.
Marks are hard to come by in German and French, easier in Spanish!
Listen to every past paper you can, then listen again with the transcript, to train your ear to hear
Redo past papers you have done at home or in class, sticking to the running order to get better at working your timing
Use the SQA website to download past papers and sound files as well as marking schemes

6. The three skills
Listening
Use the Scholar listening material, then listen again with the transcript revealed
In Scholar, go into Additional Tools, Activities
At the top of each topic area, you will find Listening Assessments : they are multiple choice/single word answers
You will also find Listening Comprehensions. These are more like exam listenings, and allow you to compare your answer with a model answer
Go to to Exam Preparation in Scholar, and you will find three listenings at the right level to practise with

7. The three skills
Reading
Reading is another skill: practice again is really important.
Develop your dictionary skills! Get used to the dictionary you will take into the exam with you
As in the listening, redo past papers you have already done, but sticking very closely to 40 minutes for the reading and ten minutes for the translation
Go to the SQA website for past papers and marking schemes to see what is accepted and what is not

8. The three skills
Reading
Reading is a big feature of the Scholar website.
Again, go into Additional Tools, Activities, then look for Reading Assessment in the assessment area at the top of each topic.
As in the listening, there are assessments and comprehensions!
And again, go to Exam Preparation in Scholar, and you will find three readings at the right level to practise with

9. The three skills
Translation
Once again, the SQA website will show you past papers and their marking schemes. Try the translations, then use the marking schemes to correct them. You will get a real feel for what is right, acceptable, and wrong
You will find translation activities throughout the Scholar website.
Again, go into Additional Tools, Activities, then look for translation in each topic.
You will find activities with suggested answers: check your answers against the suggested answers, using this honestly

10. The three skills
Translation
Look at the guidance in the homework session (tackling the translation) which has a PowerPoint on translation
Look at the translation tips in the exam preparation area in Scholar
Try the translation exercises on the Scholar website by going through Activities. Ask your teacher to look at your versions, if you are not sure whether your version is as good as the suggested translation..
Use the SQA website to look at the marking schemes for the past papers for Higher and also the discontinued Higher. The approach is different, depending on the language. Look at what is acceptable and what is not.

11. The three skills
The dictionary
Get faster at using the dictionary, practise using the one you will take into an exam
Use a dictionary which is right for the task
Much of the meaning in a sentence is conveyed by the verb: get used to identifying where the verbs are, by highlighting them
Become familiar with the verb pages: many times when people can’t find a word in the dictionary, it is because it is a form of a verb, and most dictionaries give only infinitives
Get used to going beyond the head word in the dictionary, practise scanning the examples below, as you will often find the whole phrase you are looking for

12. The three skills
Directed writing
Higher Directed Writing is all about past tenses, so make sure you are good at them, or can use your dictionary verb pages to check your work
There are four bullet points, actually quite predictable: you should by now have draft versions of these, and be able to reproduce them from memory: these should be about 30 words long each. Practise rewriting them from memory
Make sure you know how to modify your corrected version to fit the actual wording of the question
For the last bullet point, you are liable to need a future and conditional tense, and give opinions! So have a couple of sentences ready, with just tweaking to be done to make them fit
Again, look at the homework session on writing for more support here

13. The three skills
Directed writing
don’t worry about the context, look at the bullet points and see which one you are better prepared for
don’t be tempted to use your dictionary to look up words you don’t know: stick to things you do know
do use your dictionary to check your spellings, to check your genders, and to check your verbs
at the end, do go through the writing and proofread, looking for the kind of mistakes you know you make most often

14. The three skills
Directed writing
The language used is detailed and complex. There is good use of adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases and, where appropriate, word order.
A comprehensive range of verbs/verb forms, tenses and constructions is used. Some modal verbs and infinitives may be used.
The candidate is comfortable with the first person of the verb and generally uses a different verb in each sentence. Sentences are mainly complex and accurate.
The language flows well.

15. The three skills
Directed writing: Language Resource
The language used is detailed and complex. There is good use of adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases and, where appropriate, word order.
A comprehensive range of verbs/verb forms, tenses and constructions is used. Some modal verbs and infinitives may be used.
The candidate is comfortable with the first person of the verb and generally uses a different verb in each sentence. Sentences are mainly complex and accurate.
The language flows well.

16. The three skills
Directed writing: Language Resource
for a good grade, you need complex language
that means sub-clauses, conjunctions, adjectives with nouns, and adverbs with verbs in each section
think of writing a statement, then giving a reason and a second reason (or a but, on the other hand) for your answer
get the appropriate tense in!

17. The three skills
Directed writing: opinions
you may well be asked what you thought of some aspect of the visit, or to give your opinions of people or places
have opinions on individuals and groups of people ready
you will almost certainly have to write about what you ‘did’
you will probably have to say something about your overall opinion, and/or would you recommend it to others, using future and/or conditional tenses

18. The three skills
Directed writing: some hints
split the first bullet point into two, and answer with a sentence for each part
think about ‘other relevant details’: when, weather, how you got there, what the journey was like, who you travelled with, where you stayed, what you did in your free time, what was different, opinions!
make sure you have ready a number of things you ‘did’ for work, homework, free time
for the last bullet point, have ready and use both future and conditional sentences : know how to say ‘I would recommend’
make full use of the opportunities to put in sub-clauses and adjectives

19. The three skills
Directed writing: scenarios
SCENARIO 1: Society
Last year you visited a town in Germany where you stayed with a local family. On your return you have been asked to write in German about your trip for the foreign language section of your school/college website.
You must include the following information and you should try to add other relevant details:
how you travelled and what the journey was like
how you got on with the German family
some of the things you did during your stay
whether or not you would like to repeat the experience

20. The three skills
Directed writing: scenarios
SCENARIO 2: Culture
Last summer you went to a music concert in Germany with your friends. Your German teacher has asked you to write in German about your experience.
You must include the following information and you should try to add other relevant details:
how you travelled and what the accommodation was like
what you thought of the concert
what you did after the concert
whether or not you would like to go to Germany again

21. SCENARIO 1: Employability
The three skills
Directed writing: scenarios
SCENARIO 1: Employability
Last summer you spent three weeks working in a hotel in France. On your return you have been asked to write an account in French of your experience for the hotel’s website.
You must include the following information and you should try to add other relevant details:
Where the hotel was located and what it was like
What you liked/disliked about the job
How you got on with your colleagues
Whether or not you would recommend working abroad to others

22. The three skills
Directed writing: scenarios
SCENARIO 2: Culture
Last year you went to France to stay with a French family. On your return you have been asked to write an account in French for the French family’s local newspaper.
You must include the following information and you should try to add other relevant details:
Where in France the family lived and how you travelled there
What you did with the family at the weekend
What differences you noticed between the French and Scottish way of life
Whether you would recommend living with a family in another country

23. The three skills
Directed writing: scenarios
SCENARIO 1: Culture
While in Spain, you took part in a local festival. You have been asked to write about your experience in Spanish for the language section of your school/ college website.
You must include the following information and you should try to add other relevant details:
How you travelled and what the journey was like
What you enjoyed most about the festival
What else you did during your stay in Spain
If you would recommend such an experience to others

24. The three skills
Directed writing: scenarios
SCENARIO 2: Society
Last year you took part in a language exchange in Spain where you stayed with a Spanish family. You have been asked to write about your experience in Spanish for the language section of your school/college website.
You must include the following information and you should try to add other relevant details:
How you travelled and what you thought of the journey
How you helped around the house
What you did to improve your Spanish
If you would recommend an experience like this to other young people

25. The three skills
Personal response writing
This is unpredictable, and you cannot simply learn by heart some essays and hope to find one of them fits
What you can do is have a lot of opinion phrases ready, and be prepared to adapt them to fit the topic in question
Put together a list of good sentences with conjunctions giving reasons or qualifications, with blanks left to put in words which relate to the topic
Look at the transcripts of what you are listening to and identify good phrases and sentences for your bank: the transcripts are just at the right level of language for this writing
Look at past papers: you will see there are always three questions to answer: practise dividing your answer up into two or three paragraphs of roughly equal length answering these questions.

26. The three skills
SQA Past papers
Subject: from menu choose French, German, Spanish or Italian
Qualification: from menu choose Higher
Go! You will find the 2015 and 2016 papers, as well as a specimen paper
Choose pdf of the paper you want, soundfile as an mp3 if you want to try the listening, then scroll down to the pdfs for the marking instructions
You will also find Discontinued Higher papers for the last five years. The listenings, readings and translations are well worth trying to develop your skills
For Directed Writing, it is worth looking across the languages to see the kind of questions set

27. Thank you for taking part tonight!
Remember that there is advice on revision in the Exam Preparation area of SCHOLAR
You might also find the homework sessions on the various skills useful!