Question Paper Skills for Biology, Chemistry and Physics 2019-2024

Date published: 02/05/2025

FOI reference: FOI24/25 162

Date received: 10/12/2024

Date responded: 13/01/2025

Information requested

Question paper skills tagging data for N5, H and AH Physics for 2023 and 2024 Question paper skills tagging data for N5, H and AH Chemistry for 2014-2024 Question paper skills tagging data for N5, H and AH Biology for 2014-2024.

Response

Thank you for your request for:

Question paper skills tagging data for N5, H and AH Physics for 2023 and 2024
Question paper skills tagging data for N5, H and AH Chemistry for 2014-2024
Question paper skills tagging data for N5, H and AH Biology for 2014-2024.

We have been able to locate and/or generate the majority of the information you have requested (attached). Please note that there are 30 documents in total. The documents will be split by subject and level.

Section 17 of FOISA provides that where an authority does not hold information requested then it should notify the requester to that effect. Some information was never generated and accordingly is not held, so we are unable to provide it. Please see the guide attached for full information.

There are no question papers or associated information for 2020 because exams were cancelled. What would have been the 2020 papers were released to centres in 2021 along with question paper skills tagging. Please be aware that for the 2021 papers any questions marked as an ‘A’ were intended to function as an ‘A’ because they were never actually sat by students. In other series items marked as an ‘A’, performed as an ‘A’ evidenced after the exam had been sat.

The previous question paper skills tagging that was undertaken (2014-2021) was part of a one-off package to provide additional support during sessions 2020-21 and 2021-22. This information is not currently generated or published on an annual basis as standard SQA support materials, so in some cases we have had the information for 2022, 2023 and 2024 generated specifically for this request.

The materials that we do have are attached to this request. Please note that for chemistry in particular, we did not have access to all of the original documents and have located the information from the web team. 2016-2019 chemistry information is embedded as part of ‘Guidance on estimates and gathering evidence 2020-2021’. For 2021, the information is embedded in the ‘Final marking instructions’.