Scottish Highers results day 2024: When is it and what to expect?

• SQA results day is now just days away.
• You may get your results sent digitally, but should also receive them in the post.
• If you think there’s a problem with your grades, you have the right to appeal them for free.
• Students hoping to move on to university may be entered into the Clearing process if their grades aren’t what they had hoped.

High school is now well and truly over for most of this year’s Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers candidates.

Now the wait to find out how they did in their final exams, back in April and May, is almost over. For some students, the fruit of their labours will see them accepted into the universities of their choosing, and results day will be a time of celebration.

But others now potentially face going through Clearing, or even the appeals process if they think there might have been a problem with how their work was marked. Both of which can be considerably more stressful.

But what should they expect on results day itself? Here’s what students - and their parents or carers - need to know:

When is SQA results day this year?

Scottish pupils sit what are known as their ‘National’ and ‘Higher’ qualifications, instead of the GCSEs and A Levels used by the rest of the country. Also unlike their English, Welsh, and Northern Irish counterparts, where results for the two different sets of exams are released on different days, all Scottish Qualifications Authority - or SQA - exam results are released at once.

This year, Scotland’s results day is on Tuesday, 6 August.

For Scottish students, results day is almost here (Stock photo: Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)

How can students get their results?

There are a couple of different ways Scottish high or secondary school students can get their exam results this year.

If you previously registered on the online MySQA service, you will have signed up to be emailed or texted your results on the day, with messages rolling out from 8am. Registration for this service has unfortunately now closed.

However, all students will still receive their results envelope and qualification certificates in the post, delivered first class. These will usually also arrive on 6 August.

What should you do if you think there’s been a problem with your grades?

Once you have your results in hand, you’ll finally be able to see how you did. SQA uses a letter grading system, with A (the highest) to D denoting passes. If you don’t score highly enough for at least a D, that subject will have ‘No Award’ next to it.

If you don’t get the grades you expected, it can naturally be upsetting - and you’ll want to consider your next steps carefully, with the help of school leaders or careers staff and with family. But if you think there has been a mistake or an issue with how your work was marked, you have the right to appeal your grade.

This process is entirely free, and will open on results day. To appeal your grades, the student in question needs to sign up to the SQA website (not to be confused with MySQA) which will be found online here from results day until appeals close. You will need to provide information like your email address, full name, date of birth, and Scottish Candidate Number - which can be found on your certificate. You can then submit appeals for your courses through the online portal. If you have a university offer waiting, you can ask for a priority appeal if you apply by 13 August. Everyone else needs to apply by 27 August. You can’t apply if you already have an A, or in several other circumstances.

SQA will review its marking of your exam rather than your actual work, and it warns grades can go down as well as up - depending on what they find.

What’s the next step for students wanting to go on to university?

If the next step in your plan is moving on to tertiary studies, then results day can be a significant time - one that will probably see you glued to the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) online portal.

If you already have conditional offers from some of your chosen universities or tertiary institutes and you’ve managed to achieve the grades they require, then you should check back until your spot is confirmed. You likely won’t need to do anything else, and your university will let you know your next steps, and if they need anything else from you.

If you didn’t get the grades you’d hoped or if you perhaps applied a little late, UCAS will automatically enter you into Clearing. This can help match you up to other universities with open places around the UK, and usually has hundreds if not thousands of courses available. UCAS will try to match you up to courses it thinks you will be interested in, which can be viewed by clicking the ‘My Matches’ button.

When you find a course you’re interested in, you will need to call that university to discuss whether they would consider you. Once you’ve got their approval, you can officially add them to your application by clicking 'add Clearing choice' and filling in the details. They will then confirm your spot - and it’s onto the next stage of your academic journey.

The wait for results day can be an anxious time for students, and for parents and carers trying to support them. SQA has put together a webpage with some advice and links to follow if you or a young person in your life start to feel stressed or overwhelmed.You can check it out online here.