Higher exam guide
Higher English
Course code C824 76 · Specification Version 6.0, September 2025; Scottish-text update June 2026 · valid from 2026–27
Your 2027 exam
- Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation
- – BST
- Critical Reading
- – BST
Published national times, in UK local time. Confirm your personal timetable, room and any assessment arrangements with your school or college. Coursework deadlines are set by your centre.
- Results day
- National contingency day
Qualifications Scotland timetable · Version 02, August 2026 · checked .
What changed for 2027?
Higher Scottish text: the 2026 paper and earlier past papers use a 10-mark final question (2 commonality + 2 extract + 6 elsewhere). From the 2027 exam, the final question is 8 marks (2 + 2 + 4), with 12 marks on the initial extract questions. The Scottish-text section stays at 20 marks. National 5 retains its separate 8-mark format. Critical Reading remains 40 marks in total. The change was published on 3 June 2026 for session 2026–27.
Read the official assessment updateHow the exam is marked
100 course marks after scaling
Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation
30 marks
30% of the course result
1 hour 30 minutes
Two unseen non-fiction passages connected by theme. Questions on the first passage, then one question comparing the main ideas of both.
Critical Reading
40 marks
40% of the course result
1 hour 45 minutes
Section 1: Scottish text questions (20 marks). Section 2: one critical essay from a choice of three (20 marks). Each section must cover a different genre.
Portfolio–writing
15 marks
Scaled to 30 course marks · 30% of the course result
Coursework (first draft up to 4 hours in class)
One piece of writing, either broadly creative or broadly discursive. The mark out of 15 is doubled.
Course areas and revision checklist
Use this summary alongside the full official specification. ScotSpark practice covers selected skills, not every item below; your teacher can help you fill the gaps.
Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation
- Explaining the writer’s ideas in your own words
- Vocabulary in context
- Analysing word choice, imagery, sentence structure, tone and punctuation
- Text structure: opening, conclusion, linkage and development of argument
- Evaluating the writer’s techniques and overall impact
- Inferring meaning
- Comparing three key areas of agreement or disagreement across both passages
Critical Reading: Scottish texts
- Analysis of language, including sound
- Characterisation
- Theme
- How a writer creates effect, mood or atmosphere
- Overall text structure
- Evaluating the effectiveness of the extract
- The 2027 8-mark question: commonality (2), extract (2), and links elsewhere in the text or other poems/stories (4)
Critical Reading: critical essay
- Drama
- Prose fiction and prose non-fiction
- Poetry
- Film and TV drama
- Language
- Building a critical line of thought that answers the question throughout
- Technical accuracy in spelling, grammar, punctuation and paragraphing
Portfolio–writing
- Broadly creative: personal or reflective essay, prose fiction, poetry, drama script
- Broadly discursive: argumentative or persuasive essay, report, transactional or informative writing
- Planning, drafting under supervision and responding to feedback
- Acknowledging all sources; work must be your own, not produced or improved with AI
Performance–spoken language (achieved / not achieved)
- Taking part in a group discussion or giving a presentation
- Communicating detailed and complex ideas or information
- Non-verbal communication
- Listening and responding to others
Exam technique
- In "use your own words" questions, recast the idea fully rather than lifting phrases from the passage.
- For analysis, quote or name the feature, then explain its effect in relation to the question.
- The critical essay must answer the question throughout and be understood at first reading. Weak technical accuracy can cap your mark.
- Spoken language carries no marks, but you must achieve it to gain the course award.
Version 6.0, September 2025; Scottish-text update June 2026 · checked . Qualifications Scotland replaced SQA in February 2026; official documents may still use the SQA name. Check for later updates and confirm arrangements with your teacher.