Easiest Highers vs Hardest Highers ranked: You'll be surprised which subjects they are!

What are the easiest Highers?

What are the hardest Highers to take?

Should you pick the easiest Higher subjects or the hardest?

By Clarissa Joshua
March 23, 2022

What are the easiest Highers?
What are the hardest Highers to take?
Should you pick the easiest Higher subjects or the hardest?

You must be excited if you're getting ready for your Highers and probably a little bit nervous too. It’s natural to feel like that and wonder which subjects you should choose. We’re going to list the easiest Higher subjects for you, some of the hardest, and give you some advice on how to pick your Highers. girl studying for highers

We’re going to share the easiest Highers upfront but we want you to keep in mind that just going for the easiest Higher subjects doesn’t guarantee good grades. We’ll look at the factors in more detail after but crucial to the mix are your skill sets, passion, and motivation. 👍

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) currently provides the statistics on Higher results from 2017 to 2021. The table below doesn’t contain all of the Higher subjects as we’re focusing on the easiest Highers, but you’ll find all of them on the SQA site.

Here are the easiest Highers as determined by the percentage of students who attained an A-C in 2021:

Ranking based on 2021 results	Subject	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
1	Latin	93	96	92	96	99
2	Chinese Languages	98	95	97	100	98
3	English for Speakers of Other Languages	90	91	85	98	97
4	Gàidhlig	81	91	91	98	97
5	German	90	89	90	98	97
6	Music	96	95	92	98	97
7	Dance	95	95	83	97	96
8	Urdu	96	96	98	99	96
9	Art and Design	84	84	81	96	95
10	Fashion and Textile Technology	83	83	75	95	95
11	French	87	87	87	97	95
12	Italian	92	92	90	100	95
13	Drama	82	83	79	95	94
14	Gaelic (Learners)	81	83	90	95	94
15	Music Technology	87	84	78	97	94
16	Spanish	89	84	83	96	94
17	Physical Education	86	87	88	94	93
18	Politics	75	72	84	92	93
19	Economics	81	85	80	92	92
20	Photography	86	87	79	94	92
21	Accounting	79	77	79	91	91
22	Administration and IT	76	78	78	92	91
23	Classical Studies	80	81	76	94	91
24	Graphic Communication	79	76	75	94	91
25	Media	61	67	69	90	91
26	Modern Studies	75	76	76	91	91
27	Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies	71	73	69	91	90

You may have looked at the table and noticed that a large percentage of students received an A to C in 2021 compared to 2019 and earlier years in many of the subjects. That’s thanks to the pandemic and the changes to assessment as a result of lockdowns and other restrictions in place.

Having said that, it’s clear that just about all of the foreign language subjects have stayed consistent throughout. Students get good grades in languages, there’s no doubt about it. That doesn’t mean they’re ridiculously easy subjects. However, it’s clear what you need to do in the exams and assessment, and if you put the time in and learn all the content and practise then you can do well. 💪

Higher tutoring is very useful when it comes to languages because it will give you more practice speaking with an expert. They will help with pronunciation and improve your fluency overall. At GoStudent, we have qualified language tutors as well as tutors to cover every other subject.

Now you know what is the easiest SQA Higher to take, let’s look at five of the hardest Highers based on 2021 results. This data is also taken from the SQA site and reflects the percentage of students who attained Grades A to C.

Ranking based on 2021 results

Subject

Human Biology

Environmental Science

Mathematics

Your main consideration should be your future at this stage. Next year, you’ll be taking Advanced Highers or going to university, if your plan is to keep studying. The next step after this is your career. You need to match the right subjects to your chosen path and some of these may not be your favourite but requirements by an institution you wish to study at.

Most students take four to five Highers so pick yours wisely and try not to be swayed by the easiest Higher if it doesn’t interest you or isn’t relevant to your future. You’ll be more motivated to study if you like a subject and/or are talented in it. 😃

For any subjects that you find challenging or you just want to get the best grades possible, there’s always tutoring. At GoStudent, we have dedicated Higher tutors who can give you the support you need, online. Class times are flexible and you’ll enjoy learning over our interactive platform. Plus, you can record your classes if you want to and use these for extra revision.

If you’d like to try a class and see how powerful a private lesson can be, your first lesson is on us! Good luck with all of your studies, we know you’ll do great.