N4/5 Drama

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The National 5 Drama course encourages candidates to exercise imagination and creativity. They develop important skills, attitudes and attributes, including creativity and adaptability, learning independently and as part of a group, critical thinking, enthusiasm, and confidence.

Drama gives you the opportunity to use your imagination and express yourself in a creative and practical way. It helps you to develop important skills such as problem solving, communication, planning and creative thinking. It is particularly suitable for those who love being creative, getting their ideas across in a dramatic way and communicating their ideas with others.

Details of course components - The course is similar to National 4, but you will have to produce a higher standard of work.

Drama Skills - In this part of the course, you will:

• Develop your drama skills and ways of communicating thoughts and ideas to an audience

• Learn how to respond to stimuli (things that prompt ideas for drama)

• Develop your understanding of how to portray character

• Learn about form, genre and style when creating and presenting drama structure

• Reflect on your own progress and that of others

Drama: Production Skills - In this part of the course, you will:

• Explore and develop your production skills and use these skills to present drama

• Use problem solving skills in order to generate ideas for presenting drama and present ideas in a production portfolio

Course Assessment

Practical exam 60% of overall grade

Within the practical exam you will have to complete a 400 word mini essay known as a ‘prep for performance’ which your examiner will read prior to your final performance. Students who are more inclined to do production over acting have the opportunity to choose one production area they would like to explore, creating a portfolio of work all year long which they will present to the examiner.

Written exam 40% of overall grade

Your written exam is made up of two sections. Section 1 will be answering questions based on a drama you have done in class (your drama skills unit).

In Section 2, you will be presented with stimuli which you must create a drama from on the spot and then answer questions about that drama.

What will my Home Learning commitment be?

Pupils are expected to learn their script off book at home, dedicating at least 2 hours a week to Drama study. Where possible, attending additional rehearsals during lunchtimes and/or after school may further benefit pupil success in the course.

Is DRAMA for me? 

Ideally pupils will have studied BGE Drama to prepare them well for this course. However, as this is a new qualification, pupils with previous experience in Drama out with school may also elect to study the course.