English
The courses provide candidates with opportunities to develop skills in listening, talking, reading and writing. Language and literacy skills are of personal, social and economic importance.
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27-NOV-2024
A new list of Scottish set texts for National 5 and Higher English courses for session 2025-26 onwards, following an extensive consultation with teachers, learners, and literary experts from across the country.
02-JUN-2025
We’re running a short survey to gather views on whether we should increase the duration of the Higher Critical Reading question paper by 15 minutes – from 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Over the last few years, we’ve received feedback from teachers and learners about the duration of the Higher Critical Reading question paper, including through our consultation on the Scottish set text list in 2024.
The proposed extra time is intended to help learners fully demonstrate their skills, knowledge and understanding.
Have your say
We invite you to complete our survey and share your views on the duration of the Higher Critical Reading question paper, including any potential drawbacks or challenges you think could arise as a result of increasing the duration.
Complete the survey
The survey will close on Tuesday 17 June 2025 at 4 pm.
How we’ll use your feedback
We’ll analyse the results of this survey alongside the feedback we’ve received over the last few years. If there is a clear demand to extend the question paper by 15 minutes, we’ll make this change for the 2026 exams.
Scottish text list for National 5 and Higher English courses (valid from session 2025-26)
Scottish text list for National 5 and Higher English courses (valid for session 2024-25)
Where can you take this course?
