Reading Paper:

1. Reading Paper: Standard Grade Credit 2007

2. ‘contrast’ question • This question is asking you to ‘contrast’ something, which means it wants you to compare. • When comparing you need BOTH sides. • So the answer here is: “forgotten” v “unknown” / “open to the public” (1) “mere” v. “startling” (1)

3. ‘meaning of word’ question • When they are asking you for the meaning of a word they may refer to something you have NEVER heard of. • The best thing to do is to find the word in the text and work out what it could mean from the context. • For example: “To reach Maes Howe I took the road that passes over a thin isthmus between two lochs.” • We can see here that there are two ‘lochs’ on either side, and a loch is water. So we can assume the answer is, ‘strip of land with water on each side.’

4. ‘In your own words’ question • When attempting these questions refrain from using ANY words they have. • Do not be afraid to ‘dumb it down’ and put it in to simple words because you can’t think of a fancy way to say it. Keep it simple! • For example: ‘domestic normality’ may become ‘ordinary everyday things in the houses.’ • No fancy words, but gets you two marks!

5. ‘Sentence structure’ question • Look at what the previous question refers to. This will help you significantly with the sentence structure. • If they are referring to ‘clouds’ then look where it is positioned in the sentence. • If you say ‘clouds is at the end of the sentence’ you will get your mark.