SQA grade boundaries: Higher pass marks by subject

We show the percentage mark that students needed to pass an SQA Higher course in each subject, as the 2024 results data is published

6th August 2024, 3:11pm

Emma Seith

SQA results day 2024: grade boundaries by subject

In order to attain a C-grade pass at Higher this year, what percentage mark did students have to get?

The general expectation is that a candidate should achieve 50 per cent of the marks to attain a C. However, that cut-off point is not set in stone and grade boundaries can be adjusted if, for example, an exam is deemed too easy or too hard.

This year, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) said the return to full pre-Covid requirements for national qualifications would be taken into account when grade boundaries were being set.

Ultimately, however, the SQA said students coped well with the return to full course assessment, and grade boundary adjustments this year were smaller overall than in 2022 and 2023.

SQA grade boundaries 2024: changes in the sciences

One subject area where grade boundaries did have to be adjusted, according to the SQA, was the sciences.

In her chief examiner’s report, Fiona Robertson, chief executive of the SQA, said coursework performance - which at Higher involves an investigation worth 20 per cent of the final mark - was “broadly in line with pre-pandemic levels”.

But she added that students “had not fully applied their practical skills to other assessment components” and “small adjustments to grade boundaries” were made for some science subjects at Higher and Advanced Higher.

For instance, the subject with the lowest pass mark at Higher was chemistry; the cut-off for a C-grade was 43.3 per cent.

Ms Robertson maintained, however, that “the return to full course assessment was the right step to take”.

SQA data shows C-grade cut-off points

Here are the Higher C-grade cut-off points by subject this year:

The SQA, which released its annual results data today, made modifications to course assessments at the height of the Covid pandemic to free up time for teaching and learning. These modifications included removing the research report that Higher science candidates are required to carry out.

The decision to reintroduce these elements in 2023-24 was controversial, with one teaching union arguing that it would place “unnecessary pressure and stress” on teachers and students who were not ready. Nevertheless, the change went ahead.

Earlier this year, the SQA indicated that the demands of reintroducing coursework would be factored in when setting cut-off points for grades.

SQA exam results: appeals process

This year, appeals against SQA exam results are again free of charge and can be made either through schools or colleges, or through the SQA itself using the “learner-direct service”, which opened at 9am via the SQA website.

However, critics of the current approach say it is not a proper appeals system because past performance - in, for example, prelim exams - is not considered.

Students can appeal directly to the SQA or ask their school to do this for them. The learner-direct submission deadlines are: