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Standard Grades (Scottish Gaelic: An Ìre Choitchinne) are Scotland's educational qualifications for students aged around 14 to 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 in November. (However, certain subjects may be "fast tracked" at some schools where the course is started in at the beginning of 2nd year and finished at the end of 3rd year or by doubling teaching time and sitting courses over 1 year as with Highers.)^{[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 8 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.

Contents 1 Levels of award 2 History and future 3 Standard grade subjects 3.1 Compulsory subjects 3.2 All subjects 4 Notes 5 References 6 See also 7 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" (Bun Ìre), "General Level" (Meadhan Ìre) and "Credit Level" (Sàr Ìre). 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 (SCQF for short).

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 Failed	7	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.^[1]

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.

Standard Grades are set to end in 2013 and will be replaced by the National 4 exam in 2014. But - unlike Standard Grades - the easier National 4 exam will not involve an external exam. The qualification will be awarded on the basis of coursework and tests marked by the school.

[edit] Standard grade subjects

[edit] Compulsory subjects

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The Scottish Government states that all pupils must take the subjects below. However, there are exceptions.

• English (4 hours per week minimum)
• Mathematics (4 hours per week minimum)
• Science (At least one from: Chemistry, Biology, Physics, General Science) (3 hours per week minimum)
• Social Sciences (At least one from: History, Geography or Modern Studies) (3 hours per week minimum)
• Physical Education (PE) ^* (2 hours per week minimum)
• Religious, Moral and Philosophical Education (RMPS) ^* (1 hour per week minimum)
• Education for Personal and Social Development (PSE)^* (1 hour per week minimum)

^* Core subject

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] Notes

[edit] References

• SCQF. "Table of Main Qualifications". SCQF Table of Main Qualifications. SCQF. http://www.scqf.org.uk/table.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-07. 

[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/sqa/files_ccc/NQExamTimetable2009.pdf - 2009 Exam Timetable

Q400pilot 13:01, 30 July 2009 (UTC)