Summary of Appeal Outcomes 2025

 

Headlines

Appeal requests

  • Overall, 50,805 (9.0%) of the 565,090 certificated grades for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher were appealed in 2025, this is an increase from 2024 (8.1%).
  • At National 5, 24,080 (7.2%) of the 333,995 certificated grades were appealed. This is an increase from 2024 (6.3%).
  • At Higher, 24,230 (12.0%) of the 202,490 certificated grades were appealed. This is an increase from 2024 (11.2%).
  • At Advanced Higher, 2,495 (8.7%) of the 28,610 certificated grades were appealed. This is an increase from 2024 (7.9%).

Priority appeals

  • In 2025, there were 1,455 priority appeal requests (2.9% of all appeal requests). A priority appeal request is when the learner requires the outcome of an appeal for immediate progression to university, college, training or employment.
  • At National 5, there were 120 priority appeal requests (0.5% of all National 5 appeal requests).
  • At Higher, there were 980 priority appeal requests (4.1% of all Higher appeal requests).
  • At Advanced Higher, there were 355 priority appeal requests (14.3% of all Advanced Higher appeal requests).

Result changes

  • 6.0% of appeal requests (3,055) resulted in an upgrade in 2025, a decrease from 7.6% in 2024. There were less than ten appeal requests that resulted in a downgrade in 2025.

Request breakdown

  • Education authority centres accounted for 93.6% of appeal requests (93.4% in 2024), while 5.8% came from independent centres (6.0% in 2024).
  • Of all appeal requests, 52.3% were from female learners (52.6% in 2024) and 47.6% were from male learners (47.4% in 2024).
  • The 20% most deprived areas of Scotland (SIMD 1) accounted for 16.1% of all appeal requests (16.0% in 2024), and the 20% least deprived areas (SIMD 5) accounted for 24.4% (25.4% in 2024).
  • Appeal rates for SIMD quintiles ranged from 8.3% to 9.5%. Appeal outcomes varied significantly by SIMD quintile: upgrade rates were between 4.2% and 7.0% for all known quintiles.

Background

The purpose of Appeals 2025 was to provide learners and centres with the opportunity to review an SQA National Course grade whenever a learner had not achieved the expected result for the SQA-marked assessment components of their course.

Appeals 2025 involved a marking review of a learner’s externally-assessed components. Further information can be found in the background document for the publication.

Learners could apply for an appeal if they had been awarded a final grade based on externally-assessed components that were submitted to SQA for marking.

The operation of our appeals system varied fundamentally between 2019 and 2025 due to the alternative awarding arrangements that were in place to account for the COVID-19 pandemic. Further details of the awarding arrangements are available in the methodology reports published on the SQA website. Links to these are available in the background document for the publication.

Confidentiality and rounding

All figures are rounded to the nearest five. Totals are also rounded, and this may cause the sum of rounded figures to differ from the total reported. Entry numbers between one and four inclusive have been suppressed to protect against the risk of disclosing personal information. Suppressed figures are marked up with the shorthand ‘[c]’ in tables and ‘fewer than five’ in text.

Percentages are calculated using figures prior to rounding. Percentages with a value greater than zero and less than 0.05% are marked up with the shorthand ‘[low]’ in tables and ‘less than 0.05%’ in text.

Summary of appeal requests

Level

The proportion of entries resulting in an appeal request this year was highest for Higher and lowest for National 5.

  • 24,080 appeal requests were received for National 5 (7.2% of 333,995 entries).
  • 24,230 appeal requests were received for Higher (12.0% of 202,490 entries).
  • 2,495 appeal requests were received for Advanced Higher (8.7% of 28,610 entries).

 

Figure 1: Number of appeal requests as a proportion of entries by qualification level, 2025.

 

Table 1: Appeal requests by qualification level, 2025.
Level Entries Appeals Appeal rate
National 5 333,995 24,080 7.2%
Higher 202,490 24,230 12.0%
Advanced Higher 28,610 2,495 8.7%

 

Original certificated grade

Overall, the highest number of appeals came from awards originally awarded at grade B. However, as a proportion, those originally awarded at grade D were most likely to be the subject of an appeal.

As the purpose of an appeal is to appeal the grade and not a band, A grades could not be appealed based on the band awarded (grades A to C and No Award contain upper and lower bands) unless necessary for a conditional place at university or employment. This year, 155 appeal requests were received for entries originally awarded an A grade.

 

Original certificated grade graphs
Figure 2.1: National 5 appeal requests as a proportion of entries by original certificated grade, 2025

 

Figure 2.2: Higher appeal requests as a proportion of entries by original certificated grade, 2025

 

Figure 2.3: Advanced Higher appeal requests as a proportion of entries by original certificated grade, 2025

 

 

Table 2: Appeal request rates by qualification level for each grade, 2025.
Level Original grade Entries Appeals Appeal rate
National 5 A 130,765 55 [low]
National 5 B 74,780 8,610 11.5%
National 5 C 56,165 6,310 11.2%
National 5 D 37,670 6,090 16.2%
National 5 No Award 34,615 3,010 8.7%
Higher A 62,430 80 0.1%
Higher B 49,065 8,010 16.3%
Higher C 42,225 7,310 17.3%
Higher D 28,410 6,290 22.1%
Higher No Award 20,360 2,545 12.5%
Advanced Higher A 8,970 20 0.2%
Advanced Higher B 6,790 655 9.7%
Advanced Higher C 6,170 835 13.5%
Advanced Higher D 3,890 710 18.2%
Advanced Higher No Award 2,785 275 9.9%

 

Subject grouping

  • English subjects had the highest appeal rate (11.2%).
  • Languages subjects had the lowest appeal rate (5.7%).
  • Appeal rates for other subject groupings ranged between 6.9% and 10.3%.

 

Figure 3: Appeal requests as a proportion of entries by subject grouping, 2025.

 

Table 3: Appeal requests by subject grouping, 2025.
Subject grouping Entries Appeals Appeal rate
Business 36,125 2,870 7.9%
Care 455 45 10.3%
Creative 52,450 3,600 6.9%
English 93,420 10,440 11.2%
Home Economics 13,625 1,040 7.6%
Languages 24,570 1,390 5.7%
Mathematics 92,120 8,430 9.1%
PE 34,940 2,845 8.1%
Science 92,840 9,365 10.1%
Social Science 83,150 7,665 9.2%
Technology 41,400 3,115 7.5%

 

Centre type

  • Appeal rates did not vary significantly by centre type.
  • Education authority centres made 47,555 appeals (93.6% of all appeal requests) and 9.1% of all education authority centre entries were appealed.
  • FE college centres made 275 appeals (0.5% of all appeal requests) and 5.4% of all FE college centre entries were appealed.
  • Independent centres made 2,935 appeals (5.8% of all appeal requests) and 7.6% of all independent centre entries were appealed.
  • Other centres made 35 appeals (0.1% of all appeal requests) and 9.4% of all other centre entries were appealed. Among the centre types, this represents the highest appeal rate. However, there were only 380 entries from within this group of centres.

 

Figure 4: Appeal requests as a proportion of entries by centre type, 2025.

 

Table 4: Appeal requests by centre type, 2025.
Centre type Entries Appeals Appeal rate
Education Authority 521,005 47,555 9.1%
FE College 5,145 275 5.4%
Independent 38,560 2,935 7.6%
Other 380 35 9.4%

 

Sex

  • Appeal rates did not vary significantly by sex.
  • The appeal rate was higher for females than males by 0.3 percentage points. There were 26,590 total appeals (9.1% of entries) from females, and 24,205 total appeals (8.9% of entries) from males.
  • The remaining sex categories had small entry numbers and are not included in analyses.

 

Figure 5: Appeal requests as a proportion of entries by sex, 2025.

 

Table 5: Appeal requests by sex, 2025.
Sex Entries Appeals Appeal rate
Female 291,580 26,590 9.1%
Male 273,405 24,205 8.9%

 

SIMD

  • Appeal rates did not vary significantly between the most and least deprived SIMD areas.
  • 8,160 appeals (16.1% of all appeal requests) came from the most deprived datazone (SIMD 1) and had an appeal rate of 9.4%.
  • 12,375 appeals (24.4% of all appeal requests) came from the least deprived datazone (SIMD 5) and had an appeal rate of 8.3%.
  • The highest rate of appeals was from those areas assigned to SIMD 3, with an appeal rate of 9.5%.

A breakdown by SIMD decile and qualification level is included in the data tables accompanying this release.

 

Figure 6: Appeal requests as a proportion of entries by SIMD quintile,2025.

 

Table 6: Appeal requests by SIMD quintile, 2025.
SIMD quintile Entries Appeals Appeal rate
1 86,605 8,160 9.4%
2 89,235 8,440 9.5%
3 96,795 9,165 9.5%
4 127,025 11,200 8.8%
5 149,340 12,375 8.3%
Unknown 16,090 1,470 9.1%

 

Summary of appeal request outcomes

Level

At qualification level, the proportion of appeal requests resulting in an upgrade was highest for Advanced Higher and lowest for National 5.

  • For National 5, 1,235 (5.1%) of the 24,080 appeal requests resulted in an upgrade, fewer than five resulted in a downgrade, and 22,845 (94.9%) resulted in no change.
  • For Higher, 1,625 (6.7%) of the 24,230 appeal requests resulted in an upgrade, fewer than five resulted in a downgrade, and 22,600 (93.3%) resulted in no change.
  • For Advanced Higher, 195 (7.8%) of the 2,495 appeal requests resulted in an upgrade, fewer than five resulted in a downgrade, and 2,300 (92.1%) resulted in no change.

 

Figure 7: Appeal outcomes as a proportion of appeal requests by level, 2025.

 

Table 7: Appeal outcomes by qualification level, 2025.
Level Appeals Upgrade number Upgrade rate Downgrade number Downgrade rate No Change number No Change rate
National 5 24,080 1,235 5.1% [c] [c] 22,845 94.9%
Higher 24,230 1,625 6.7% [c] [c] 22,600 93.3%
Advanced Higher 2,495 195 7.8% [c] [c] 2,300 92.1%

 

Original certificated grade

Upgrade rates varied across original certified grades and within each qualification level, with Advanced Higher original certified B grade seeing the largest upgrade rate of 11.6%.

  • At National 5, upgrade rates were highest and lowest for original certificated B (5.9%) and No Award (4.1%) grades, respectively.
  • At Higher, upgrade rates were highest and lowest for original certificated B (8.5%) and No Award (3.6%) grades, respectively.
  • At Advanced Higher, upgrade rates were highest and lowest for original certificated B (11.6%) and No Award (4.0%) grades, respectively.

 

Original certificated grade graphs
Figure 8.1: National 5 appeal outcomes as a proportion of appeal requests by original certificated grade, 2025

 

Figure 8.2: Higher appeal outcomes as a proportion of appeal requests by original certificated grade, 2025

 

Figure 8.3: Advanced Higher appeal outcomes as a proportion of appeal requests by original certificated grade, 2025

 

 

Table 8: Appeal outcomes by qualification level for each original certificated grade, 2025.
Level Original grade Appeals Upgrade number Upgrade rate Downgrade number Downgrade rate No Change number No Change rate
National 5 A 55 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 55 100.0%
National 5 B 8,610 510 5.9% 0 0.0% 8,095 94.1%
National 5 C 6,310 300 4.7% 0 0.0% 6,015 95.3%
National 5 D 6,090 300 4.9% [c] [c] 5,790 95.1%
National 5 No Award 3,010 125 4.1% 0 0.0% 2,890 95.9%
Higher A 80 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 80 100.0%
Higher B 8,010 680 8.5% 0 0.0% 7,330 91.5%
Higher C 7,310 465 6.3% [c] [c] 6,845 93.6%
Higher D 6,290 395 6.2% [c] [c] 5,895 93.7%
Higher No Award 2,545 90 3.6% 0 0.0% 2,450 96.4%
Advanced Higher A 20 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 20 100.0%
Advanced Higher B 655 75 11.6% [c] [c] 580 88.1%
Advanced Higher C 835 60 6.9% 0 0.0% 775 93.1%
Advanced Higher D 710 50 6.9% 0 0.0% 660 93.1%
Advanced Higher No Award 275 10 4.0% 0 0.0% 265 96.0%

 

Subject grouping

There were large differences in upgrade rates between subject groupings.

  • The lowest upgrade rates were found in Science (2.4%) and Technology (4.7%).
  • The highest upgrade rates were found in Creative (9.8%) and Home Economics (9.0%).

A number of factors are likely to play a part in these differences. Including the nature of the subject and the weighting of question papers (external examinations) versus other assessments (such as coursework completed throughout the academic year) towards the overall grade.

Requests and outcomes for individual subjects are summarised in the data tables accompanying this release.

 

Figure 9: Appeal outcomes as a proportion of appeal requests by subject grouping, 2025.

 

Table 9: Appeal outcomes by subject grouping, 2025.
Subject grouping Appeals Upgrade number Upgrade rate Downgrade number Downgrade rate No Change number No Change rate
Business 2,870 160 5.6% 0 0.0% 2,705 94.4%
Care 45 [c] [c] 0 0.0% 45 93.6%
Creative 3,600 355 9.8% [c] [c] 3,245 90.2%
English 10,440 780 7.5% 0 0.0% 9,660 92.5%
Home Economics 1,040 95 9.0% 0 0.0% 945 91.0%
Languages 1,390 75 5.3% 0 0.0% 1,315 94.7%
Mathematics 8,430 425 5.0% 0 0.0% 8,005 95.0%
PE 2,845 145 5.1% [c] [c] 2,700 94.9%
Science 9,365 230 2.4% [c] [c] 9,135 97.5%
Social Science 7,665 645 8.4% [c] [c] 7,020 91.6%
Technology 3,115 150 4.7% [c] [c] 2,965 95.2%

 

Centre type

  • Appeal outcomes did not vary significantly among centre types.
  • The upgrade rate for education authority centres (5.9%) was lower than the upgrade rate for independent centres (7.1%).
  • FE college centres had an upgrade rate of 6.2%.
  • As the number of appeal requests from other centres was small (35), they have been excluded from this analysis.

 

Figure 10: Appeal outcomes as a proportion of appeal requests by centre type, 2025.

 

Table 10: Appeal outcomes by centre type, 2025.
Centre type Appeals Upgrade number Upgrade rate Downgrade number Downgrade rate No Change number No Change rate
Education Authority 47,555 2,825 5.9% 5 [low] 44,725 94.0%
FE College 275 15 6.2% 0 0.0% 260 93.8%
Independent 2,935 210 7.1% 0 0.0% 2,730 92.9%

 

Sex

  • Appeal outcomes varied significantly by sex.
  • The upgrade rate for females (6.6%) was higher than the upgrade rate for males (5.3%).

 

Figure 11: Appeal outcomes as a proportion of appeal requests by sex, 2025.

 

Table 11: Appeal outcomes by sex, 2025.
Sex Appeals Upgrade number Upgrade rate Downgrade number Downgrade rate No Change number No Change rate
Female 26,590 1,770 6.6% [c] [c] 24,820 93.3%
Male 24,205 1,285 5.3% [c] [c] 22,915 94.7%

 

SIMD

  • The appeal outcomes varied significantly by SIMD.
  • The upgrade rate for the most deprived quintile (SIMD 1) was 4.2%, and this was the lowest upgrade rate of the SIMD quintiles.
  • The upgrade rate for the least deprived quintile (SIMD 5) was 7.0%, and this was the highest upgrade rate of the SIMD quintiles.
  • Unknown SIMD datazones, which capture only 2.9% of all appeal requests, are not included in analyses due to these small numbers.

 

Figure 12: Appeal outcomes as a proportion of appeal requests by SIMD quintile, 2025.

 

Table 12: Appeal outcomes by SIMD quintile, 2025.
SIMD quintile Appeals Upgrade number Upgrade rate Downgrade number Downgrade rate No Change number No Change rate
1 8,160 340 4.2% 0 0.0% 7,820 95.8%
2 8,440 465 5.5% 0 0.0% 7,975 94.5%
3 9,165 530 5.8% [c] [c] 8,630 94.2%
4 11,200 760 6.8% [c] [c] 10,435 93.2%
5 12,375 865 7.0% [c] [c] 11,510 93.0%
Unknown 1,470 90 6.3% 0 0.0% 1,375 93.7%

 

Magnitude of grade changes

  • 47,745 appeals (94.0%) resulted in no change of grade.
  • 3,060 appeals (6.0%) resulted in a grade change between 1 and 4 grades.
  • Of those appeal requests where a grade change was applied, 3,035 (99.2%) changed by one grade, 25 (0.8%) changed by two grades, fewer than five changed by three grades, and fewer than five changed by four grades.

 

Figure 13: Magnitude of grade changes for appeals requests, 2025.

 

Table 13: Magnitude of grade changes for appeal requests, 2025.
Magnitude of change in grade Number of appeals Percentage of appeals
0 47,745 94.0%
1 3,035 6.0%
2 25 [low]
3 [c] [c]
4 [c] [c]

 

Data tables accompanying this release

Data tables accompanying this release giving the following summaries are available from the SQA website:

  • appeal requests and outcomes by subject and qualification level
  • appeal requests and outcomes by SIMD decile and qualification level
  • appeal requests and outcomes by centre type and qualification level

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Date of publication: 02 December 2025

Contact name: Chris Boulter

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