Higher: Critical Essay Revision Blueprint

Three Steps to Building a Revision Bank

1. List the 'key incidents' of the text you have studied.
   (If you find this difficult, or have only a handful of events, your first revision task is to identify the important events of the story.)
2. Taking a separate sheet for each key incident (or, ideally, a postcard), jot down an appropriate quote to summarise the events / ideas of the section.
   (Once again, if you struggle to do this, you have identified a focus for your revision: find appropriate quotations!)
3. On each key incident sheet / postcard, you should try to jot down a list of analysis points that you might make to link the event to the central concerns (themes) of the text. For example, if your key incident was Ralph organising the building of the huts in 'The Lord of the Flies' then you would jot down ways in which William Golding uses this event to further your understanding of the division between civilisation and savagery, like this:
   
   - Ralph is keen to preserve civilisation / order
   - Ralph understands the need to protect the younger children
   - Ralph's huts represent a community / base.
   - The huts represent sanctuary / safety / protection from the elements / savagery

Three Steps for Practising PEAR

1. Pick a question from a Higher English past paper. If you have not already bought a book of past papers you can access the 2007 and 2008 papers at the SQA website.
2. Choose a key incident which fits the question and write one PEAR paragraph which nods to the central concerns and responds to the task. If you are feeling confident you should complete a timed paragraph in roughly 8 ½ minutes.
3. Check over your completed PEAR paragraph and highlight / underline any particularly good analysis points and vocabulary; these can be added to your key incident notes in your revision bank.
   
   S. Stothers