Secondary education in Scotland

Secondary education in Scotland can take up to 6 years, covering ages 11 to 18,[1] from S1 to S6.

In Scotland, students transfer from primary to secondary education at 11 or 12 years old.

Some schools allow students to start to narrow their field of study, with exceptions for compulsory subjects such as English and Mathematics.

Due to the nature of schooling in Scotland, undergraduate honours degree programmes are four years long as matriculation had historically been done at the completion of Highers in S5 (age 16–17), which compares with three years for the rest of the UK.

As well as instruction through the English language, there's also Gaelic medium education at some schools.

Historically, pupils sat O-grades in S3-S4 followed by Higher Grades in S5 and CSYS in S6.