Set, maintain and monitor standards

We set, maintain and monitor standards as part of our role as Scotland’s national qualifications body. We monitor standards in two ways:

Qualification standards

We define the level of knowledge and skills needed to achieve a qualification. We then apply these standards to a candidate’s achievement to gauge whether they have the required 'level of competence'.

Assessment standards

Assessing how difficult the assessment is for candidates, taking into account everything the assessment covers. 

How we monitor standads

We work with schools, colleges, training providers and employers to ensure that standards are accurate and consistent, across all qualifications, all the time. Each year, we evaluate the performance of our external assessments. For National Courses, grade boundaries, pass rates and qualitative data provided by statistics team are used to inform the preparation of future assessments.

Each qualification is benchmarked against qualifications on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF).

Awarding and setting standards

We review our grade boundaries (the marks needed to achieve a certain grade) year on year, to ensure exam results are fair across Scotland. We regularly meet with subject specialists to discuss whether Course assessment was set at the right level. With statistical information we can see whether a question was more difficult or easier than intended.

Background on grade boundaries