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Standard Grades (Scottish Gaelic: An Ìre Choitchinne) 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 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 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. Courses may be sat in Gàidhlig at certain schools - Glasgow Gaelic School, being one of them. Courses available are: Geography, Maths, Science and History.

The Standard Grade is broadly equivalent to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualification taken in other parts of the UK.

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

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.

Level	Grades	NQ Exam	SCQF Level
Credit Level	1 and 2	Higher (taken if credit standard grade is passed in 4th year)	SCQF 5
General Level	3 and 4	Intermediate 2 (taken if general standard grade is passed in 4th year)	SCQF 4
Foundation Level	5 and 6	Intermediate 1(taken if foundation standard grade is passed in 4th year)	SCQF 3
Course Completed	7	n/a	n/a
Course Not Completed	8	n/a	n/a

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.

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

• English (or Gaelic in all Gaelic schools where English is not compulsory.)
• Mathematics
• Science- at least one science must be taken. (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, General Science or Technological studies)
• One Social study (History, Geography, Modern Studies)
• Physical Education - core
• RMPS (Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies) - core
• Personal and Social Education

Most schools also encourage the taking of a language, most commonly French or German, to standard grade. This used to be a compulsory course but other options such as the 'Life Skills' course 'Social and Vocational studies' are now being offered. These new options are mainly taken by students whose grades make them an unsuitable candidate for Standard Grade languages.

In some Local Authorities, the taking of a language is still compulsory, such as South Ayrshire.

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.

• Education in Scotland
• Higher Grade
• Advanced Higher Grade

• http://www.sqa.org.uk - Scottish Qualifications Authority
• http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/NQExamTimetable2008.pdf - 2008 Exam Timetable