The exams pass rate in Scotland has fallen for the second successive year after the grading system became stricter after the Covid pandemic.
More than 144,000 school students received their National, Higher and Advanced Higher exam grades on Tuesday, with pass rates for Highers falling from 78.9% last year to 77.1%.
Even so, this year’s results were better than in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic led to extensive changes in the grading of exams, including teacher-led grading, a lighter workload and a heavy emphasis on extenuating circumstances. Those changes resulted in pass rates soaring in 2020 and 2021.
Unlike exam authorities in the rest of the UK, the Scottish Qualifications Authority had kept some of those modifications in this year’s grading system, which helped lift Higher passes above the 74.8% pass rate in 2019, with 32.8% getting A grades this year.
Fiona Robertson, the SQA’s chief examining officer, said this “sensitive approach” to marking was justified, as it gave students “the best chance of performing to the best of their abilities”.
“This year does not mark a return to normal for learners and educators,” she said. “But it marks another significant and positive step on the path back to normal awarding, following the years of disruption to learning and teaching caused by the pandemic.”
There was a similar effect for National 5s, the Scottish exams equivalent to GCSEs in England, with an overall pass rate of 78.7% this year compared with 78.2% in 2019.
