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Course Assessment Specifications

Course Assessment Specifications define the mandatory assessment requirements for National Courses at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher. They describe the structure of the Course assessment and the mandatory skills, knowledge and understanding that will be assessed. The Course Assessment Specification states which aspects of added value will be used to address the purposes and aims of the Course.

The purpose of the Course Assessment Specification is to ensure consistent and transparent assessment year on year. The documents will support centres, teachers and lecturers to help learners prepare for Course assessment.

Course assessment complements Unit assessment but is qualitatively different. Course assessment assesses the ability of learners to integrate and apply the skills, knowledge and understanding gained from across the Course.

The Course Assessment Specification states which aspects of added value will be used to address the purposes and aims of the Course.

The Course Assessment Specification outlines the structure and coverage of the Course assessment. It describes how each Course will be assessed. This is done by describing the structure of the assessment, broadly what it covers, the assessment methods, kinds of tasks, and the skills, knowledge and understanding which will be assessed.

Courses are assessed using one or at most two of the seven agreed assessment methods — assignment, case study, performance, practical activity, project, portfolio, question paper. The methods are described in the Course Assessment Specification as Components, and in some cases Components are further split into Sections or Parts.

For each component of Course Assessment, the arrangements for setting, conducting and marking the assessment are given. As at present, question papers will be set and marked by SQA and conducted in centres under conditions specified by SQA. Arrangements for the setting, conducting and marking of non-question paper components of Course assessment (eg project or assignment) will be described in terms of a system of controlled assessment which we are introducing for new National Courses.

Lastly, where appropriate the Course Assessment Specification gives further mandatory information on Course coverage — this may include information on the application of skills, knowledge and understanding which the Course assessment will sample. In other cases it may include subject specific terms.

View the Course Assessment Specification for each qualification using the links below:

Expressive arts

National 5

Higher

Health and wellbeing

National 5

Higher

Languages

National 5

Higher

Mathematics

National 5

Higher

Religious and moral education

National 5

Higher

Sciences

National 5

Higher

Social studies

National 5 (business)

National 5 (society)

Higher (business)

Higher (society)

Technologies

National 5

Higher