During this year pupils will generally sit Higher exams, essential for entry to a Scottish university.
Fifth Year is now an "optional" year which pupils choose to remain at school to be part of unless the student would enter the fifth year at an age less than 16 in which case they are required to stay on until the end of the winter term.
Fifth Year is commonly known to be the most stressful school year in the Scottish education system due to the great increase in difficulty of the courses being taken as well as the increase the amount of work required to be completed.
Fifth year requires students to work more independently and requires more responsibility than in the Junior Certificate cycle.
This article relating to education in Scotland is a stub.