SQA results 2025

[motheronthedancefloor]

Starting a results thread early, and the last one I'll do as DD has now left school!

DD has an unconditional offer for uni so these grades don't make a difference but they still matter to us, especially after the C in History last year when she was on track for an A (bastard SQA). So hoping for a good grade for AH History.

She's also doing 2 other Highers, one of them we had to complain about the teachers (long process involving GTCS, LA and SQA, all upheld), so again really hoping the grade gives a right twos-up to that teacher.

Outwardly she doesn't seem to be stressing - more worried about passing her driving test than passing her exams, probably cause of the UC offer. But I know if she passes the subject with the godawful teacher she'll be emotional.

Hows everyone else's kids doing?

This is really great news. Just getting through school and out the other side must have been tough, for both you and your child. Congratulations.

That would make sense.

And it wasn’t a dig at state school staff who are rightly still on holiday, it’s just the private school seem to have far more admin resources than the state school and the academic results are a big selling point for them to some parents so yes, they are far, far more slick on results day.

One of my nieces needed 2 x AH at band 1 to get to Oxford last year, and she only knew she’d got them when she got the UCAS acceptance email. She didn’t get this info from the SQA which would have made more sense. It’s a poor system when UCAS get more detailed results than the candidates.

Private schools are staffed in the holidays as they need to be available to sell the school to potential parents, especially on results day when they will be putting out publicity saying how wonderful the results are/the amazing destinations of leavers. In contrast, state schools don’t require a sales force paid to be there in the holidays.

I wish I’d found this thread earlier. AAAAB here, and my poor DD can’t see beyond the B (art) to be pleased about her As (English, maths, biology, chemistry). She wants to do biochemistry at uni so her grades are great. I’m incredibly proud of her as she worked so hard - it’s such a shame she doesn’t feel that she’s done well.

Unless an appeal seems likely there's really not much advantage in knowing component marks. If you've got a B at higher, will you feel better if you time out is was a lower band B not an upper one?
There's a case for knowing for appeals (also if you're studying it at the next level up) but otherwise it's more detail than most benefit from knowing

Higher Art is always an interesting one - it's a subject where I've seen great variation between SQA grades and teacher views of the pupil's actual skill and knowledge, and this is quite widely accepted. The wtitten paper was marked very harshly in '24, not sure about in '25., though I understand it now to be make up less of the overall mark than it did. A grade B is actually very good for Art. Advanced Higher is a heavy workload, unimahinably so tbh, but there is also more freedom to 'explore' than with the Higher. Well done on her other grades.

This article might of interest for those who did less well than expected in English and Art. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25367143.exams-created-equal-data-raises-questions/

Good one! Why have you then answered my question with a question?

Very good people 🤣🤣🤣

I see what you did there🤣

Bit late to the party but congratulations to all who got what they wanted and I hope any disappointed dc are feeling better today and realise there are always options. My dd had very significant medical issues in S3 which basically meant school attendance and Nat 5s were a disaster. So yesterday AAAB, she only did 4, but it’s amazing how she has pulled herself back.

That’s amazing she should be very proud of herself !

well done to all the kids , such a tough couple of years.
my DD has had a real mixed set of higher results AAB F and a D in a nat 5
she’s pleased with the AA B although was aiming and looked like on course for A in English so I have been interested to see so many others in similar position.
the Nat 5 she’ plans to retake and the F is a science which she is putting down to just not being her thing ( although we have said to talk it over with teacher as she still didn’t expect to fail )
she was planning to do 2 highers and an advanced higher next year , I’m leaning towards either dropping the AH or else dropping one of the highers leaving her a bit more bandwidth to re do the Nat 5 too .
any advice on merit of an AH ( in her strongest subject ) or are they a real next level of extra work ?

This is interesting. I do think it’s harder to give high grades for subjective subjects such as English. There are plenty of kids who 100% ‘get’ maths. They understand the entire course in full, don’t find it hard and can get 100% in maths, give or take some silly mistakes. This is much less the case in English. And art I’d imagine. Justifying giving someone 100% in maths is far easier than in art.

Then some subjects attract the academic in a way that others don’t and therefore will naturally have higher rate of As than others. It is really tough for a child to get a far worse mark than expected though. Thoughts are with them.

The AH, it really depends on what they want to do the year after.

@Brightlycolouredbeetle
If a child is doing 7/ 8 N5s, with on average 3 components in each, that’s a hell of a lot of data on each certificate, which in some cases can also be tricky to interpret.

As a PP said, pupils can get them from their teachers when schools reopen, and there are generally DHT in school for priority appeals.

Good point and that’s the issue , she doesn’t really know so it’s a question of what might be the best ‘ general ‘ grades to have at end of S6 when she might have more of an idea . I think having a chat with guidance next week will help …

Highers are more useful for getting you into university but for some subjects, AH can be extremely useful. AH physics for example is very similar to first year university physics and taking the AH can make for a much more gentle start to uni.

Congrats to all..

A bit late to the party but DD1 got AAB at Advanced Higher which meant she met conditions for her first choice uni so we are all delighted.

Equally delighted with DD2 achieving AABB at higher, she’s is dyslexic and autistic and I’m so pleased.

Though that does raise the question of what is the point of bands?

Then some subjects attract the academic in a way that others don’t and therefore will naturally have higher rate of As than others.

This. An example is music - everyone I know who did music was already playing at least one instrument. And nearly everyone I know who learnt an instrument and stuck with it did so from quite a young age and were around grade 5 or above by the end of S4. That is a huge amount of extra input into a subject that doesn’t exist for other subjects.

Interesting to see the success rate for all
those who say traditional mandarin. I wonder how unis view an A in a higher in what could be your mother tongue? It’s quite an advantage. Is it treated in the same way as an A in other subjects?

I think component marks can be very helpful, subject depending.

In English for example, I've looked at all my new Highers' component marks in their N5 exam and have them ready to share. It lets students know their strengths and what they'll have to up their game in, e.g "You got an A1 in RUAE and QP2, but only a B4 in the folio. We need to make sure the folio is a big priority for you as we work through the H course." It lets students work on individual weaknesses and capitalise on existing strengths.

Last year my son got a D in Computing, and when he got the breakdown realised he'd wildly underestimated the coursework component. So he spent much more time on it this year, and now he has an A.

It might not work the same in each subject.

Shouldn’t teachers be aware of coursework performance anyway?

Not sure about Scottish universities but I have seen English universities treat A levels in mother tongues differently. Though at A level it is not sufficient to just know the language to pass (I had a friend make that mistake and assumed as she spoke the language she didn’t need to do any work, she failed).