Critical Reading Section 1: overview of the SQA National 5 English Scottish set text

The Scottish set text section is Section 1 of SQA National 5 English Question Paper 2 (Critical Reading), worth 20 marks. It prints an extract from a text on the SQA Scottish set text list and tests close analysis of it. This page maps the section and how the genre options are studied.

What the section contains

Extract analysis questions. Around 12 marks of understanding and analysis questions on the printed extract, answered with reference plus comment, drawing on word choice, imagery, sentence structure, characterisation and theme.

The final 8 mark question. A commonality question naming a key idea, theme, character or technique, asking how the writer explores it in the extract (up to 2 marks) and elsewhere in the text or the poet's other poems (up to 6 marks).

The genre options

Drama (such as Bold Girls or Sailmaker): analysed through dialogue, stage directions, characterisation and staging, with attention to the audience.

Prose (a novel like The Cone-Gatherers, or short stories by Iain Crichton Smith, George Mackay Brown or Anne Donovan): analysed through narrative voice, characterisation, setting and structure.

Poetry (poets such as Norman MacCaig, Carol Ann Duffy, Edwin Morgan or Jackie Kay): analysed through imagery, word choice, sound, form and structure, with the 8 mark question linking across the poet's set poems.

How to study Section 1

1. Master reference plus comment. Quote a precise detail and explain its effect; this scores the extract questions.
2. Learn the genre toolkit. Dramatic, narrative or poetic technique, depending on your text.
3. Build a quotation bank. The 8 mark question rewards references from across the whole text.

For the official course specification

The SQA publishes the National 5 English course specification, the Scottish set text list, and past papers at sqa.org.uk. Always revise from the current specification and set text list.