National 5 Holiday Revision

Hi everyone,

The next two weeks (and beyond) are crucial to your success. Don't let it slip now! It's important that you remember to have plenty of rest and to eat and sleep healthily, but it's also important that you revise. Little and often is probably best here. Remember that we have spent the past year working on a vast number of skills and a great deal of content. These all need to be revised, and trying to do it the night before the exam just won't give you the results you're looking for.

To that end:

1. Revise all of Duffy's poetry. You have the responsibility to present one of these to your group when you return, and of course you will have further help revising from me and the other members of your group. But you still need to know them all. Click HERE for a very useful PowerPoint which goes through all of the poems apart from Valentine. Below are the tasks (you are doing Task 1 now in preparation for Tasks 2 and 3 when you come back on the 20th. You can access the Prezi HERE):

2. Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth! Remember him? Gather your notes together, re-read the play. You can look at Shmoop for a little help, and you might consider watching one of the versions available on YouTube. Be careful with these, however, as they do not follow the plotlines exactly, and aren't a substitute for actually reading and knowing the play thoroughly.

3. The Lottery. Revise this by re-reading and reorganising your notes. You might also find it of use to work with the prose questions, taking time to plan responses. You will receive your essays back on the 20th. You already have some of the material, but you can Shmoop it too. There is also a version on YouTube (again, be careful with this, as any essay you write must be based on the text, not the film).

4. RUAE (Close Reading). Take some time to read the newspaper. Use your Nat4/5 textbook, which has that excellent section on Close Reading.

5. Finally, spend some time on BBC Bitesize. It's a fantastic resource--very clear--and has help for all aspects of the course and exam.

And that's about it!

I am so proud of how far you have all come this year, and I know you can achieve very well on the exam in May.

Have a lovely (and useful!) holiday, everyone. I will look forward to seeing you all back on the 20th, and hearing you present your poems to your groups. Work hard. It's worth it.