Intermediate 1 () is an educational qualification in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
on the
Scottish Qualifications Authority
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA; Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Ùghdarras Theisteanas na h-Alba'') is the Scottish public bodies, executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for accrediting educationa ...
(SQA)
Scottish Qualifications Certificate
The Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) is the successor to the Scottish Certificate of Education and the Record of Education and Training, and is the main educational qualification awarded to students in secondary, further, and vocational ...
(SQC) achievement ladder similar to General Level at
Standard Grade
Standard Grades were Scotland's educational qualifications for students aged around 14 to 16 years. Introduced in 1986, the Grades were replaced in 2013 with the Scottish Qualifications Authority's National exams in a major shake-up of Scotland's ...
s; it is the next step after Access 3. It is delivered by the majority of
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
secondary school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
s as part of the Higher Still reforms instituted in 2000 by the SQA and the
Scottish Executive
The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...
.
Intermediate 1 is Level 4 on the
Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is the national credit transfer system for all levels of qualifications in Scotland. Awards are classified under the framework at ''levels'', and study undertaken at that level is valued ...
.
Though equivalent to the General Level Standard Grade it is considered slightly more difficult, with mandatory passes needed in the
National Assessment Bank internal assessments.
It has been available to pupils (generally in S5) who achieved a grade 5,6 or sometimes a 7 at Standard grade, but with more schools choosing to use Intermediates over Standard Grade, is now more commonly available to S3/S4 pupils. It is believed that Intermediates are more useful to the students than Standard grades- the work was more demanding, and prepared the pupils for Higher better, with a similar format to the reformed higher exams.
As with other exams in the Higher Still curriculum, the grades pupils can receive in the final exam are A (usually about 70%+), B (usually about 60%+), a C (usually about 50%+), a D (usually 45–49%) or an F also known as a No Award (usually under 45%).
The next education level is
Intermediate 2
Intermediate 2 level is Level 5 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework; it was the level between Higher and Standard Grade Credit.
It was initially available to pupils (generally in S5) who achieved a grade 3 or 4 Standard Grade but, ...
.
Educational qualifications in Scotland
Secondary school qualifications
School examinations
Secondary education in Scotland
{{Scotland-edu-stub