The anxiety and stress is finally over for Scottish students as Qualifications Scotland released the 2026 exam results on Tuesday, August 4. With over 148,000 students across the country finding out their marks, one council area was found to be the best performing.
It has been reported that the pass rates across National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher increased slightly on last year’s results. With Qualifications Scotland taking over from the controversial SQA, the number of pupils achieving an A, B, or C grade at National 5 was seen to jump from 78.4 per cent to 79.2 per cent in 2026.
Increases were also found in Higher qualifications – rising from 75.9 per cent in 2025 to 76.7 per cent – and Advanced Higher results increased to 77.6 per cent from 76.7 per cent.
While this is a positive increase in Scotland, there is still some variation across the country when broken down by council area. According to data released by Qualification Scotland, only one council area was able to achieve an over 90 per cent pass rate in the country.
Taking the top spot was East Renfrewshire Council, which achieved 90.6 per cent of entries achieving a grade of A to C. This was closely followed by East Dunbartonshire with 86.2 per cent and South Ayrshire with 83.5 per cent.
View 2 ImagesOver 148,000 Scottish students received their exam results on August 4.(Image: David Davies/PA Wire)
However, it should be noted that while the attainment gap has slightly closed, the BBC reports that the divide still remains significant. The latest data suggests that the gap in National 5 qualifications between the most and least deprived Scots is 15.6 per cent, down from 16.4 per cent last year.
Below is a breakdown of how each Scottish council performed in this year’s Scottish exams, including National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher results.
The data below for each council is the percentage of entries achieving grades A to C in the Scottish exams this year.
- National 5 – 90.6 per cent
- Higher – 87.1 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 81.2 per cent
- National 5 – 81.5 per cent
- Higher – 81.8 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 79.3 per cent
- National 5 – 80.8 per cent
- Higher – 76.8 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 73.2 per cent
- National 5 – 80.2 per cent
- Higher – 80.3 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 78 per cent
- National 5 – 82.6 per cent
- Higher – 81.1 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 79.8 per cent
- National 5 – 80.3 per cent
- Higher – 76.5 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 75.9 per cent
- National 5 – 86.2 per cent
- Higher – 82.9 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 77 per cent
- National 5 – 80.6 per cent
- Higher – 75.8 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 74.1 per cent
- National 5 – 83.5 per cent
- Higher – 78.5 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 77.1 per cent
- National 5 – 79.8 per cent
- Higher – 77.2 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 77.1 per cent
- National 5 – 77 per cent
- Higher – 74 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 74.3 per cent
- National 5 – 79.3 per cent
- Higher – 72.9 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 79.3 per cent
- National 5 – 74 per cent
- Higher – 69.5 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 69.7 per cent
- National 5 – 77.4 per cent
- Higher – 76.1 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 75.4 per cent
- National 5 – 73.5 per cent
- Higher – 70.9 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 76.5 per cent
- National 5 – 76 per cent
- Higher – 75 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 72.7 per cent
- National 5 – 73.1 per cent
- Higher – 71.1 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 71.4 per cent
- National 5 – 79.3 per cent
- Higher – 72.8 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 78.9 per cent
- National 5 – 77.3 per cent
- Higher – 75.5 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 69.3 per cent
- National 5 – 78.7 per cent
- Higher – 75.4 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 75.7 per cent
- National 5 – 74 per cent
- Higher – 71.1 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 71.9 per cent
- National 5 – 78.1 per cent
- Higher – 72.7 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 71.8 per cent
- National 5 – 79.3 per cent
- Higher – 76.5 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 79.2 per cent
- National 5 – 78.3 per cent
- Higher – 73.3 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 66.8 per cent
- National 5 – 79.5 per cent
- Higher – 79.5 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 79.4 per cent
- National 5 – 76.1 per cent
- Higher – 75.2 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 74.1 per cent
- National 5 – 78.5 per cent
- Higher – 77.8 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 71.9 per cent
- National 5 – 75.1 per cent
- Higher – 74.3 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 74.5 per cent
- National 5 – 76.4 per cent
- Higher – 77.2 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 76.8 per cent
- National 5 – 76.3 per cent
- Higher – 74.2 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 73.3 per cent
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- National 5 – 77.5 per cent
- Higher – 72.3 per cent
- Advanced Higher – 71 per cent