Though Standard grade, Intermediate 1 and 2 and Higher pass rates were high, with many “competent” answers, and some “excellent”, there was a drop in the number of pupils achieving the highest grades, particularly at Higher level.

The drama paper was well done, at Intermediate and Higher, and essays on Medea and Antigone were especially impressive.

However, in both Higher and Standard grade, some candidates fell down by failing to read two-part questions properly and not answering one of the parts. At Intermediate 1, on the other hand, some did not write enough for the five-mark questions, but fared much better where those questions were broken down into two parts.

Overall, the assessors wrote that more essay-writing practice would be helpful for planning and structuring. They stressed the importance of getting pupils to read the questions thoroughly, and avoid using bullet points unless very short of time.