Although much of today’s focus is, understandably, on pass rates and attainment gaps during exam results day, there is a lot more that we can learn from the data published by the SQA.

One of the interesting, but often overlooked, aspects of the data concerns entry levels – the number of students actually attempting a course, as opposed to the percentage that successfully pass it. It’s important to remember that this figure reflects the overall number of attempts, so is of course significantly higher than the raw student numbers given that most candidates attempt more than one course.

If we look back to 2016 and compare that data to what we now have for 2024 we can see some major changes taking place across Higher, National 5 and Advanced Higher subjects. In some cases, those shifts are actually big enough to have particular knock-on effects, for example by impacting upon overall pass rates.

Read more: Exam attainment gaps at record levels as pass rates fall

Higher

Overall entry levels are almost identical to 2016. Back then, there were a total of 194,804 individual entries for Higher courses, and by 2024, this has become 196,250 – an increase of just +0.7%

Thirteen different subjects have seen double-digit declines in uptake over that period. The largest drops have been in Care, Childcare and Development, and Latin (-49.3%), but three of the four modern European languages, as well as both Design and Manufacture and Graphic Communication, have also registered sharp declines:

  • Accounting (-12.8%)
  • Care (-72%)
  • Childcare and Development (-65.2%)
  • Computing Science (-16.3%)
  • Design and Manufacture (-33.6%)
  • French (-41.3%)
  • Gaelic Learners (-27.5%)
  • German (-38.2%)
  • Graphic Communication (-27.1%)
  • Italian (-28%)
  • Latin (-49.3%)
  • Philosophy (-26.2%)
  • Psychology (-31.9%)
  • Sociology (-13.6%)

Physics almost made it onto this list, having seen a fall of 9.9% in entry levels since 2016.

On the other hand, thirteen subjects have seen a double-digit increase in uptake over the same period, with subjects such as Economics, Media, Music Technology and Politics recorded particularly large rises in student numbers:

  • Admin and IT (+12.1%)
  • Art and Design (+10.8%)
  • Classical Studies (+25.9%)
  • Economics (+44.1%)
  • Engineering Science (+24%)
  • English for Speakers of Other Languages (+37.9%)
  • Environmental Science (+26.7%)
  • Human Biology (+25.7%)
  • Media (+57.6%)
  • Music Technology (+67.4%)
  • Photography (+24.3%)
  • Physical Education (+20.6%)
  • Politics (+108.8%)

Another notable shift is seen in Spanish, which bucked the downward trend for other languages and increased entry levels by 8% since 2016.

The number of students studying Applications of Maths – a relatively new course intended as an alternative to mathematics – has also risen dramatically in recent years.

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National 5

At this level entries have risen considerably, jumping from 293,167 in 2016 to 327,950 now – an increase of 11.9%

Nine subjects recorded double-digit declines:

  • Accounting (-10.8%)
  • Care (-81.3%)
  • Design and Manufacture (-17.3%)
  • French (-27.2%)
  • German (-20%)
  • Graphic Communication (-17.9%)
  • Health and Food Technology (-14.3%)
  • Mathematics (-13.2%)
  • Practical Cake Craft (-27.5%)

However, more than double that number (23 subjects in total) saw double-digit increases in student numbers over recent years:

  • Applications of Maths (+831.6%)
  • Art and Design (+10.3%)
  • Business Management (+23.7%)
  • Classical Studies (+358.9%)
  • Dance (+65.3%
  • Economics (+52.4%)
  • Engineering Science (+14.7%)
  • English for Speakers of Other Languages (+68.4%)
  • Environmental Science (60.3%)
  • Fashion and Textile Technology (+12%)
  • Gaelic learners (+60.9%)
  • Gàidhlig (+65.6%)
  • Italian (+39%)
  • Media (+35.7%)
  • Music Technology (+74.3%)
  • Physical Education (+33.8%)
  • Practical Cookery (+42.9%)
  • Practical Electronics (+261.9%)
  • Practical Metalworking (+42.7%)
  • Practical Woodworking (+83.3%)
  • Psychology (+75.2%)
  • Spanish (+45.3%)
  • Urdu (+35.1%)

 

Advanced Higher

The biggest shift in entry levels over recent years is found at Advanced Higher Level, where student numbers have risen from 23,794 in 2016 to 27,745 in 2024 – a remarkable 19.8% increase.

Eleven subjects saw double-digit declines in entry levels, with the worst affected being Graphic Communication, French, Latin and Classical Studies, although the drop in entries for Advanced Higher History is particularly notable because it is one of the few subjects at this level to attract more than 1,000 students per year.

  • Classical Studies (-47%)
  • Design and Manufacture (-28.6%)
  • Engineering Science (-26.7%)
  • French (-45.5%)
  • Gaelic learners (-37.5%)
  • German (-34.9%)
  • Graphic Communication (-50.1%)
  • History (-12.5%)
  • Latin (-43%)
  • Spanish (-13.5%)
  • Statistics (-17.6%)

On the other hand, seventeen subjects saw double-digit increases in the number of students attempting the courses, with three subjects even registering triple-digit increases:

  • Accounting (+15.4%)
  • Art and Design – Design (+32.1%)
  • Art and Design – Expressive (+52.6%)
  • Biology (+27%)
  • Business Management (+145.2%)
  • Computing Science (+45.4%)
  • Economics (+25%)
  • English (+29.8%)
  • Geography (+10.6%)
  • Health and Food Technology (+80%)
  • Italian (+104.5%)
  • Mathematics (+30.4%)
  • Mathematics of Mechanics (+91.4%)
  • Modern Studies (+31%)
  • Physical Education (+314.2%)
  • Physics (17.3%)
  • Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies (+20.3%)