When exam results were published earlier this month, The Herald reported that pass rates had fallen across National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher, while poverty-related attainment gaps had increased to record levels.

Each year, the headline stories for these three courses represent the bulk of both media coverage and political discussion, but a wide range of additional qualifications data is also available, offering insights into areas that do not tend to attract so much attention.

Here, we break down the numbers on alternative courses and qualifications, subject variations, course progression and some lesser-known attainment gaps.

 

National 2, 3 and 4

One of the trends we have seen in recent years has been an increase in the number of entries for National 2, 3 and 4 courses, which have no final exam and are instead internally assessed by schools.

Entries for National 2 have increased by around 40 percent since 2019, from 2,070 up to 2,905. The most popular subjects at this level were: Lifeskills Mathemathics; English and Communication; Food, Health and Wellbeing; Physical Education; and Science in the Environment.

For National 3, the increase has been more than 50 percent, with entry levels now standing at nearly 30,000. Applications of Maths, English, Modern Studies, History and Practical Cookery were the most popular subject choices for this level in 2024.

At National 4, entry levels have actually dipped slightly compared to last year, but a total approaching 130,000 is still more than 20% higher than the figure for 2019. Mathematics and English are by far the most popular subjects, with Applications of Mathematics, History and Biology also attracting large number of students.

Alternative Qualifications

In addition to the Nationals, Higher and Advanced Higher courses, a number of alternative qualifications are also available for young people, with some recording significant growth in recent years.

For example, the number of National Progression Awards (NPAs) achieved at levels 5 and 6 (roughly equivalent to National 5 and Higher respectively) has increased significantly since 2019. Successful completions of a Level 5 course have risen from 3,345 to 11,450 in that period, while at Level 6 completions increased from 5,250 to 11,975. NPAs are also available at levels 2, 3 and 4.

The most popular NPA courses are Level 5 Photography, Level 6 Exercise and Fitness Leadership, Level 5 Sport and Fitness: Team Sports, Level 5 Computer Games Development, and Level 6 Sports Development.

The number of SQA Awards completed by students has also increased, most notably at level 5 where the total jumped from 5,185 in 2019 to 14,230 this year. Level 6 Leadership and Level 4 Employability Awards were the most popular, with significant numbers also recorded in areas such as Level 5 Wellbeing, Level 5 Religion, Belief and Values, and Level 4 Modern Languages for Life and Work.

Level 5 Skills for Work courses have also recorded a dramatic increase over the past five years, with completions rising from 6,635 to almost 12,000. Travel and Tourism, Early Learning and Childcare, Sport and Recreation, and Laboratory Science were some of the most popular courses last year.

Course Progression

Every year, the SQA publishes very specific data on the success rates for pupils progressing from one level to the next in a given subject. For those going from National 5 to Higher, or Higher to Advanced Higher, the figures broadly show what most people would probably expect: those who do best in the lower level qualification also tend to do better when they move up to the next stage.

In English, for example, 48% of those awarded an A at National 5 go on to achieve the same grade at Higher, but less than a third of those who attain a C at National 5 manage to pass the subsequent Higher at all. Six of the seven courses with the strongest link between an A grade at both the lower and higher level were languages: Latin (94%), Urdu (94%), Economics (86%), Italian (85%), Chinese Languages (75%), Gaelic Learners (72%).

In general, the data also shows that securing an A or a B at National 5 means that a student is likely to at least pass the Higher in the same subject.

However, the picture for progression from National 4 to National 5 is different. In part, this is due to the ungraded nature of National 4, which means that students either pass or fail it, and there is no differentiation between students moving from the lower to the higher level.

In most subjects, it is still the case that completing the National 4 means that a student is likely to at least pass a subsequent National 5, but subjects in which successful progression rates sit below 50% include both maths subjects, every available science subject, and all three social subjects.

In mathematics, 71% of those progressing from National 4 did not pass National 5 the following year, although the worst rates are seen in Environment Science, where 75% of progressing students are unsuccessful.

Variations in pass rates between subjects

All courses within each particular level are supposed to represent equal levels of challenge for young people, so you might expect the pass rates across all the different subjects to be roughly similar. This is not the case.

In 2024, the overall Highers pass rate stood at 74.9%, but the subject-specific figures varied from just 51.6% for Design and Manufacture to 100% for both Cantonese and simplified Mandarin. National 5 and Advanced Higher courses have also recorded major pass rate gaps between different subjects.

Published data also highlights major changes in pass rates compared to previous years. In Higher History, for example, the pass rate dropped by thirteen percentage points over the past twelve months, with a similar decline recorded in Applications of Maths.

History also recorded one of the largest pass rate falls at National 5 level, alongside Practical Metalworking, Practical Electronics and Graphic Communication.

Variations between public and private schools

Data published by the SQA also allows us to clearly see the difference in exam results between public and private (or independent) schools in Scotland.

Unsurprisingly, pupils at private schools are more likely to pass their courses. At National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher level, the gap between public and private schools in this area is nearly twenty percentage points.

The divide is even more stark in terms of A-grades. By this measure, pupils at private schools do about twice as well as their state-education peers in National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses.

Pupils with additional support needs and disabilities

One of the documents released alongside exam results each year is the SQA’s Equalities Monitoring Report. This is the source that allows us to break down pass rates by deprivation levels, but it also contains information related to other characteristics including whether or not pupils have additional support needs (ASN) or disabilities.

At National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher levels there are clear attainment gaps. Students without any ASN are more likely to pass at all three levels, and the gaps have barely changed over the past five years.

The same is true for students with a declared or assessed disability – they are less likely to pass courses than those without any disability, and very little progress has been made in closing these gaps compared to the data from 2019.

The Urban-Rural Attainment Gap

The 6-fold version of Scotland’s little-known Urban-Rural classification system identifies all settlements in the country as being in one of six possible categories:

  • Large urban areas: settlements of 125,000 people and over
  • Other urban areas: settlements of 10,000 to 124,999 people
  • Accessible small towns: settlements of 3,000 to 9,999 people, and within a 30 minute drive time of a settlement of 10,000 or more
  • Remote small towns: settlements of 3,000 to 9,999 people, and with a drive time of over 30 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more
  • Accessible rural areas: areas with a population of less than 3,000 people, and within a 30 minute drive time of a settlement of 10,000 or more
  • Remote rural areas: areas with a population of less than 3,000 people, and with a drive time of over 30 minutes to a settlement of 10,000 or more

The Herald has previously highlighted that young people from remote small towns have poorer outcomes in terms of literacy and numeracy levels, and are also less likely than their peers in all other groups to go on to higher education after leaving school.

The SQA results data shows that this pattern also applies to National 5 and Higher exam performance, where young people from remote small towns have lower pass rates than those from any other type of location. While pass rates have fallen across the board, they have fallen more steeply for those from remote small towns. The only level at which those from remote small towns do not have the lowest performance levels is Advanced Higher, where they do better than those from Accessible small towns and Other urban areas.