Yes, you read it here first Today The Herald launches its weekly series reviewing the Higher examinations. We canvass teachers for their expert assessment of the papers, and ask pupils how they think they have performed

All the teachers reviewing this year's exam commented on the accessibility of the subject matter and most also liked the fact that there were a lot of two-mark questions rather than four-mark questions, to which some pupils tend not to give sufficiently full answers.

Linda Forrest of Linlithgow Academy said: ''One girl came out of the exam and said she really enjoyed reading the texts - it was something she could connect with. Part of the problem in the past is that they have been really quite dry.''

Joan Duncan of Belmont Academy, Ayr, identified a couple of testing questions in paper one but said her pupils had found adequate answers to them, while Pam Loudon of Cathkin High School said the subject of parenting had already come up in one of the National Assessment Bank units, which should have given pupils ''a little hudgie up''.

Paper two, the critical-essay section,

provoked a more mixed reaction, however, particularly over the poetry section, which a few teachers felt was too narrow in its scope. Mary Doherty of St Ninian's High, Kirkintilloch, described it as ''a bit tricky''.

John Docherty of Trinity High School, Renfrew, said the literature paper was becoming increasingly difficult, but he

welcomed that as it meant that a candidate could no longer go into the exam having

prepared only one or two texts.

Rachel Elstone of the High School of Glasgow said she had exactly the same complaint as last year - that the poetry questions were too specific. ''My pupils were well-prepared, but not one question suited what they had covered, so they were pushed into writing all they had done on the other two sections - drama and prose.''

Maggie Price of The Glasgow Academy agreed that the poetry questions were narrowly focused, but said that schools knew that would be the case. Her main concern was the quality of marking.

Bill Watson of Brannock High School, Motherwell, said English teachers had been told it was SQA policy to make the poetry questions more difficult because lots of pupils chose poetry as an easy option.

Linda Forrest of Linlithgow Academy said that while there was usually a poetry question asking candidates to compare two very different poems, this year the comparison was between two love poems.

''If we teach poetry by thematically linking them, love isn't the one we would choose - it turns a lot of the boys off,'' she said.

Maggie Crowe of Aberdeen Grammar School said it was unusual for students to do love poetry, just because they were not the age for it. ''Either they get coy and embarrassed or it is too demanding to look at romantic love at that stage in their life.''

Susan McDade from Notre Dame High School in Glasgow summed up the general satisfaction with the prose and drama questions, saying they were accessible for lots of different texts. However, at least two teachers commented on the difficulty of the intermediate two exam, with Bill Watson of Brannock High saying it was ''challenging in a way that the Higher wasn't'', and Patricia Burns of St Paul's High, Glasgow, commenting on the difficulty of the close-reading paper - a text from the Sunday Times - which she found dry. If she had been reviewing it, rather than the Higher, she would have put it in the difficult-to-fiendish category.

Teachers' verdict English : Moderate

Biology

BIOLOGY was fair, straightforward and even, according to Frank O'Hare of Gryffe High School, ''predictable to the extent of cloning some questions of previous years''.

Tom Menzies of The Glasgow Academy commented that in the multiple choice section A, four of the seven unit one questions focused on photosynthesis and the essay section also included a question on the same topic, with none of the essay topics coming from the growth and development unit. Candidates who had not prepared photosynthesis might therefore have come unstuck.

Harry Winslow, Cathkin High School, welcomed the fact that there was ''no evidence of the forced, spurious originality which can blight a paper and really upset the candidates'' and commented that ''the new regime of setters for Higher biology are to be congratulated on a very fair paper''.

Martin Dougall, of the High School of Glasgow, was generally happy with the mix of questions, although he felt that the wording of questions 8 (a) (iv) and 5 (c) in section B might have posed a few concerns.

In the essay section, he felt that the reference to the ''nature'' of viruses rather than ''structure'' of viruses in question 2 (b) might have confused some candidates.

HUMan biology

Martin Dougall of the High School of Glasgow felt the human biology paper was slightly more difficult than biology. He picked out question 5 (b) and (d) in section B as requiring quite detailed knowledge and (e) of the same question requiring the candidate to give a lot of information for three marks. He felt that question 7, section B, on the Rhesus factor, had a different slant from usual but was nevertheless not unfair.

Alasdair MacRae, Notre Dame High School, Glasgow, felt there were not as many DNA questions in the multiple choice section as might have been anticipated, and picked out questions 7, 16, 21 and 28 as the most testing in this section. Within the essay section, he felt that 1A and 2A were both more difficult than the alternatives - 1B and 2B - and that some candidates might have struggled to gain the full 10 marks.

Linda Sutherland of Trinity High School, Renfrew, felt that none of the questions should have caught out candidates.

Teachers' verdict Biology : Moderate

GEOGRAPHY

HIGHER geography should not have presented a major obstacle to pupils who had

prepared properly for the exam, according to our reviewers. The first question in the core exam paper - on atmosphere - might have been difficult for some pupils, according to Lorna MacPhail from Hamilton Grammar, but that was because Higher pupils generally find atmosphere difficult and the question covered a particularly challenging element. The remaining questions were straightforward, she said.

Dr Mark Davies of the High School of Glasgow described question one as ''a bit unusual'' and thought it rather repetitive.

Lisa Allan of Barrhead High School thought that question 2 (b) on drainage basins was not what pupils were expecting, but that it was not unfair - a view shared by Frank McCann of Cathkin High. He felt the wording of question six did not make clear it was a question about the green revolution.

Vince Raeburn of Linlithgow Academy and David Russell of Knox Academy, Haddington, were relieved that certain topics, such as chalk landscapes, had not come up, as from next year they will no longer be examinable following a national review.

Mr Russell suggested that the second paper, applications, was now becoming quite predictable, with this year's paper very much along the lines of last year's. ''The main issue is still time, particularly for better candidates who tend to be a bit pushed.'' Mr Raeburn also had concerns about the wording in the last part of question one on national parks and environmental conflicts. Lisa Allan echoed his concerns, saying she felt the question was rather limiting, as it concentrated on national-park protection as a solution, rather than looking at other issues.

Mr McCann described the first part of question three as ''a little bit cheeky'', as the question on river-basin management had specified South Africa as an example instead of giving candidates the opportunity to use other examples, such as the Nile.

Question four on urban change and management was criticised by Miss MacPhail over the marks distribution - 16 marks going to a developed world city, and only nine to a developing world. Otherwise, she was happy with the paper.

Teachers' verdict Geography : Moderate

Hillpark Secondary School, Glasgow: Higher English

Susan Provan, 16

''I thought the interpretation

was quite easy, a bit easier than we expected it to be. It was

easier than past papers we practised. Some bits were still quite tricky. The critical essay was quite easy. I did it quicker than I thought I would.''

David Fyfe, 16

''I thought the close-reading paper was harder than the critical essay. There were quite a lot of analysis questions which took time - I was struggling to finish. I'm not sure how well I did. I probably did better on the critical essays than on the close reading.''

Kimberley Park, 16

''It was quite straightforward. I finished every question. I wouldn't say it was easy. I was quite nervous before it but found it OK when I started it. I think everybody was quite nervous about trying to get it done on time. Hopefully, I've done quite well.''

Andrew Paton, 16

''It was a fair paper but the close reading was easier than the practical ones. The interpretation was easier than the ones we got in class. I finished 20 minutes early because the question fitted in with the texts I studied. I think I did as well as can be expected.''

Amy MacVicar, 17

''Having practised some in class, I thought the interpretation was going to be a lot harder so I was well prepared. I wasn't as nervous as I expected to be. I was quite glad because the questions looked like the ones we did in class and I knew what we were doing.''