Standard Grade

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Standard Grades are Scotland's educational qualifications for students aged around 14-16 years. Standard Grade courses are taken over the 3rd and 4th years of a student's secondary schooling. Exams are taken at the end of the 4th Year (around May), with preliminary examinations taken several months earlier (from as early as October to around March in S4). (However, certain subjects may be "fast tracked" at some schools where the course is completed in one year rather than two e.g. starting the course at the beginning of 3rd year and sitting the exam at the end of that school year.)^{[citation needed]} The exams are provided by the Scottish Qualifications Authority, which also offers the more recent National Qualifications on the Scottish Qualifications Certificate.

Students will typically study 7 to 9 subjects at Standard Grade. Generally speaking, different subjects can be taken independently of each other. The two main restrictions on this choice are timetable arrangements, and the fact that many less popular subjects are not offered by all schools.

The Standard Grade is broadly equivalent to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualification taken in other parts of the UK. However many^{[attribution needed]} consider Standard Grades to be slightly more difficult than GCSEs.^{[citation needed]} This is because of subjects being investigated and studed in greater detail, and in overall a shorter time frame.

Contents 1 Levels of award 2 History and future 3 Standard grade subjects 3.1 Compulsory subjects 3.2 All subjects 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Levels of award

There are three sub-levels (or "tiered" papers) at which Standard Grade exams can be taken, namely "Foundation Level", "General Level" and "Credit Level". At one sitting, students generally sit either the Foundation and General level papers together, or the General and Credit level papers together.

Students are awarded a numerical grade for each examination (which may consist of several papers) ranging from 1 (best) to 7. The table below lists the grades, the exam level and equivalence to the new National Qualification exams and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.

Level	Grades	NQ Exam	SCQF Level
Credit Level	1 and 2	Intermediate 2	SCQF 5
General Level	3 and 4	Intermediate 1	SCQF 4
Foundation Level	5 and 6	Access 3	SCQF 3
Course Completed	7	n/a	n/a
Course Not Completed	8	n/a	n/a

[edit] History and future

The Standard Grade replaced the old O-Grade qualification, and was phased in from the late-1980s until the early-1990s.

The Standard Grade system is now being slowly phased out in favour of the Scottish Qualifications Authority's Higher Still system, as many, students and teachers alike, feel that the jump from Standard Grade to Higher is too difficult, particularly in subjects such as English. Although they are not exactly the same, the Foundation Level is similar to Higher Still's Access 3 level, whilst General is similar to Intermediate 1 and Credit is similar to Intermediate 2.^{[citation needed]}

In some schools which use Higher Still qualifications as replacements for Standard Grades, students are now required to take an exam at the end of 3rd year (either Access 3 or Intermediate 1), and then take the Intermediate 1 or 2 exam (depending on which exam they took in 3rd year) at the end of their 4th year. This allows them to then go onto Intermediate 2 or Higher level in 5th year, as students already do each year.

[edit] Standard grade subjects

[edit] Compulsory subjects

The Scottish Executive states that all pupils must take the subjects below. However, there are exceptions. All the subjects below are also listed in the All Subjects list.

• English (or Gaelic in all Gaelic schools where English is not compulsory.)
• Mathematics
• Science- at least one science must be taken. (Chemistry, Biology, Physics or General Science)
  • One Social study (History, Geography, Modern Studies)
  • One Technical subject; i.e. Craft and Design, Graphic Communication, Hospitality, Home Economics
  • Physical Education - core
  • RMPS (Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies) - core
  • Social Education
  • One creative subject (Drama, Music, Art and Design and physical education)
• French or German- in some schools most pupils must take a language. Pupils with academic disabilities which affect their ability to grasp foreign languages will take Life skills (svs - social and vocational studies).^{[citation needed]} This was generally the case until 2004 when a few schools allowed pupils to discontinue languages at the end of 2nd year. Pupils who do very well in French, attaining a grade 1 or 2 in their S2 work may be recommended for Intermediate 2 German.^{[citation needed]}

The course choice process begins after the Christmas and New Year of S2, with the completed forms being handed in around the end of February.

[edit] All subjects

[edit] See also

• Education in Scotland
• Higher Grade
• Advanced Higher Grade

[edit] External links

• http://www.sqa.org.uk - Scottish Qualifications Authority
• http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/NQExamTimetable2007_291106.pdf - 2007 Exam Timetable