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Examination Results

The Glasgow Academy has a strong tradition of fostering academic excellence and we are proud of our pupils’ achievements.

Results in SQA examinations are among the best in the Scotland.

As an independent school, The Academy is free to choose courses of study which we consider to be most beneficial for our pupils. We combine traditional teaching methods with the best of modern techniques.

We have an open and inclusive entry policy and present pupils for a significantly greater number of Higher examinations than many other schools.

How did we do in 2023?

Our pass rate at Higher is 99% with 80% of entries awarded A grades.
Our National 5 A-C pass rate is 98% with the A pass rate at 82%.
In S6, our pass rate is 97% for Advanced Higher with 72% of entries awarded grade A.

Rector Matthew Pearce said: “We are delighted to be celebrating impressive results achieved by our pupils and my warmest congratulations go to them all. Every qualification represents dedication and individual endeavour.

“Our staff work hard to create a culture in which our young people are motivated to be ambitious and this year’s results are testament to the strong partnership between our pupils, parents and carers.

“We are also very proud of our young people for their wide range of achievements which are not captured in the formal examination system, ranging from personal successes to national and international accomplishments.

“Very well done to all of our young people and a huge thank you to our community for their ongoing support.”

2022 SQA ResultsToggle

At Higher, 81% of entries were awarded grade A with an overall pass rate of 97%.

At Advanced Higher, our pass rate was 95% with over 59% of pupils attaining an A grade.

At National 5, 86% of all Academy entries gained a grade A. Our overall pass rate was 99%.

2021 SQA ResultsToggle

At Higher, 84% of entries were awarded grade A with an overall pass rate of 99%.

At Advanced Higher, our pass rate was 96% with over 87% of pupils attaining an A or B grade.

At National 5, 84% of all Academy entries gained a grade A. Our overall pass rate was 98%.

2019 SQA ResultsToggle

At Higher, we achieved our highest ever pass rate of 99% (nationally the pass rate was 74.8% down from 76.7% last year).

A record 48 Academy pupils achieved 5 or more A grades. 18 departments had a 100% pass rate and 12 departments achieved more than 70% A grade.

At Advanced Higher, the pass rate was 95% with a record number of entries for Advanced Higher (up 10% on last year), 49% of which were A grade.

At National 5, 54 Academy pupils achieved straight As with 77% of all Academy entries gaining a grade A. Our overall pass rate was 97% (the national pass rate was 78.1%)

2018 SQA ResultsToggle

At Advanced Higher our pass rate was a record 95.4%.

One pupil, Tim Chan, gained 5As at Advanced Higher, and won the SQA’s Academic Excellence Award for the highest combined exam results in Scotland. Tim was also a shortlisted finalist in the British Education Awards.

Another pupil, Ritobrata Mukhopadhyay, gained the top mark in the country in Advanced Higher Maths and won the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Prize for that. Another pupil gained 4 As and 13 pupils gained 3 As.

All five of our pupils with Oxbridge offers gained their Oxford or Cambridge offers.

At Higher, a record 47 Academy pupils have 5 or more A grades, with two pupils being awarded seven A grades and nine pupils gaining six A grades. The pass rate was 96%. (Nationally the pass rate was 76.8%.) Eight subjects achieved more than 70% grade As.

At National 5, 80.2% of Academy entries gained A grades. 47 pupils achieved straight A grades. Our pass rate was 97.7%. (Nationally the pass rate was 77.4%.) 14 subjects achieved 100% pass rate and a further four achieved above 95% pass rate. Drama and Latin achieved 100% grade As – the fifth year in a row that Drama has been awarded nothing less than A grades.

The table below shows our pupils’ results alongside results of other Scottish independent schools (SCIS) and in schools across Scotland.

EXAM	ALL SCOTTISH SCHOOLS	ALL SCIS SCHOOLS	THE GLASGOW ACADEMY
	‘A’ Grades	‘A’ Grades	‘A’ Grades
National 5	35.1%	69.4%	80%
Higher	28.4%	55.1%	67.3%
Advanced Higher	32.3%	53.1%	53.1%

	Pass Rate (Grades A-C)	Pass Rate (Grades A-C)	Pass Rate (Grades A-C)
National 5	77.4%	94.6%	97.7%
Higher	76.8%	92.7%	96%
Advanced Higher	80.5%	93.2%	95.4%

2017 SQA ResultsToggle

In 2017 our Higher pass rate was a record high for the third year running, rising to 97.36% – the best in the West of Scotland*. 41 Academy pupils gained 5 or more A grades at Higher. Nationally the Higher pass rate fell again, to 77.0%. More than two-thirds (67.3%) of Academy Higher entries were awarded A grades (compared to 28.7% nationally).

At National 5, the pass rate was 95.9%. 71.1% of Academy entries gained A grades (compared to 37.1% nationally). Amongst high-performing departments, Drama, Hospitality and Latin gained 100% A grades.

At Advanced Higher, the pass rate was 90.2%. Over half (51.1%) of Academy entries were awarded A grades (compared to 31.7% nationally).

We congratulate all our pupils who worked hard for their exams to represent one of Glasgow’s best schools.

Around 95% of our pupils go on to study degree courses on leaving The Academy, and in 2016, one leaver who had gained 6 A grades at Higher opted to become our first modern apprentice.

*The Herald 2017 Independent School Exam League Table

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