Purpose

Assessment Marks (formerly named Component Marks) presents a summary of maximum marks, mean marks, highest achieved marks and the number of candidates achieving that highest mark, for each National 5, Higher, and Advanced Higher course assessment as a whole, as well as for each component of each assessment. The data enables comparison with the national average.

Status

These data are classified as information.

Description

This publication details assessment and component marks information for graded National Qualifications in Scotland for an academic year (e.g. 2025 covers the academic year from 2024 to 2025).

National Qualification courses are each made up of between one and five components. This release presents a summary of maximum marks, mean marks, highest achieved mark and the number of candidates achieving that highest mark, for each National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher assessment as whole, and for each component of each assessment.

Summary data for the assessment as a whole was included for the first time in the 2024 publication. Previously, only summary data for components was included. From 2025, the tables are renamed as Assessment Marks.

Approach to awarding

Prior to 2020, SQA used its well-established awarding procedures to evaluate the performance of the course assessment. Following a period of different awarding approaches (detailed in ‘Approach to awarding 2020 to 2024’), SQA returned to well-established awarding procedures from 2025, in line with our Awarding and Grading for National Courses Policy.

Approach to awarding, 2020 to 2024

During the global pandemic, SQA, in common with education systems around the world, had to use different approaches to assessment and certification. Examinations did not take place in 2020 and 2021 and component marks were not collected.

In 2022, Scotland returned to formal national exams, supported by a package of measures (course modifications and revision support, as well as wider support from across the education system at a national, regional, local and centre level). These measures were designed to address the ongoing disruption to learning and teaching that young people experienced, while maintaining standards. Further details about the approach to awarding in 2022 can be found in the methodology report.

In 2023, awarding operated using the established procedure as far as possible in order to evaluate the performance of the course assessment, but with consideration given to the following factors:

  • Impact of the reducing legacy of disruption to teaching and learning caused by the pandemic
  • Impact of modifications to course assessment
  • Impact of the removal of revision support

Awarding decisions were therefore ‘sensitive’ to these factors, ensuring that grade boundary decisions recognised that performance continues to be impacted. This was informed by the full range of qualitative and quantitative data used during awarding, with additional data from 2021-22 on the impact of modifications. Further details about the approach to awarding in 2023 can be found in the methodology report.

In 2024, awarding used the well-established procedures to evaluate the performance of the course assessment and, where appropriate, considered the impact of changes to assessment brought about by the return to full course assessment for many courses. These changes to assessment included the removal of optionality in some question papers and the reintroduction of:

  • Coursework components (projects, assignments, dissertations)
  • Optional content into question papers
  • Course content examined in question papers
  • An exam component

Further details about the approach to awarding in 2024 can be found in the methodology report.

Source of data

National Qualification performance data are collected at a point prior to Results Day when results are reasonably complete. The data are collected at around the same time in July each year to aid year-on-year comparisons.

Methodology

Only candidates that completed all components were included in these data and all marks used are marks after any scaling.

Confidentiality and rounding

All highest mark counts are rounded to the nearest five. Highest mark counts between one and four inclusive have been suppressed to protect against the risk of disclosure of personal information. Cells containing suppressed figures are marked up with the shorthand [c].

Information Governance

The data in this publication is defined as being statistical for the purposes of information governance and data protection. This primarily means that the associated processing is not carried out for the purposes of measures or decisions with respect to a particular data subject. Further information on this processing category can be found in the appropriate data protection legislation.

Revisions and corrections

Once published these statistics are not usually subject to revisions. Further information about revisions and corrections is available in our policy document.

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