While the Paper 2 essay only takes 1 hour and 45 minutes at both Higher and Standard Level, in fact you can spend hours preparing for it. Good preparation will ensure that every minute of the exam is used wisely. We recommend you see the 'skills' page for further explanation on how one develops the necessary skills. On this page, you will find an overview of tips that you can apply to the preparation process. 

• Read the instructions. So many candidates skip the instructions and go straight to the questions. The instructions on the Paper 2 exam draw your attention to the criteria that you will be assessed on. It helps to have these in the back of your mind as you respond to the question you choose to answer. 

• Remember that the Paper 2 exam is asking you to do four things.  Try looking at good samples and with four different colors of highlighter pens, highlights examples of each of these four.

1.  Answer the question being asked. 

2. Be knowledgeable about the literary works.

3. Compare and contrast them in relation to the question.

4. Remember to comment on the author's use of language, style and structure and to compare and contrast them with the other literary work.

• Remember that there are 4 questions on the exam. Not all questions will lend themselves to the works you have read. What's more, some questions are more criteria-focused than others.

• Practice writing outlines for questions that appeared on previous tests (or one of the Specimen Papers). 
• Practice using the assessment criteria by examining both good and bad samples.