Qualifications Scotland (SQA) National 5 Computing Science Past Papers 2026

Software design + computer-systems knowledge

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Practical programming task

Duration: Up to 6 hours, conducted over several shorter sessions; high supervision, open-book

Standard algorithm — input validation using a conditional loop

All three course reports (2023–2025) identify input validation as the most commonly mishandled algorithm. Candidates repeatedly used a single IF statement (which only checks once) rather than a WHILE or REPEAT-UNTIL loop. This error appears in both the question paper design questions and the assignment implementation.

Question Paper, Assignment

Standard algorithm — running total within a loop

The 2023 report explicitly flagged that many candidates could not design a running total algorithm within a loop. The 2024 report repeated the observation. Candidates who recognised the need for a running total often failed to initialise the accumulator before the loop or incorrectly placed the output inside the loop.

Question Paper, Assignment

Boolean operators and conditions — using logical operators in complex conditionals

The 2023 report noted that many candidates could identify a logical operator in code but could not correctly apply one with the right parameters. The 2024 report flagged that only some candidates explained the purpose of a Boolean variable in code — many described the device context rather than the code behaviour.

Question Paper

String manipulation — concatenation and predefined string functions

The 2025 report identified concatenation as a demanding topic — candidates were asked to describe concatenation or use the term 'concatenation' and many were unable to do so. Predefined string functions such as length/len were identified in 2023 as functions candidates could name but not correctly apply with parameters.

Question Paper

SQL JOIN — omitting the JOIN clause when querying across two tables

Across all three years, failing to include a JOIN when selecting from two tables was the most consistently identified SQL weakness. Candidates correctly identified fields and WHERE conditions but left out the JOIN, losing marks on questions where the join was a required component.

Question Paper, Assignment

Referential integrity — naming it rather than explaining it

The 2023 report found most candidates could not explain why referential integrity prevented a record from being inserted, giving the term as if it were a full answer. The 2024 report noted very few candidates could explain the role of referential integrity at all. The concept — a foreign key must reference an existing primary key — must be stated explicitly.

Question Paper

Binary representation and hexadecimal — calculations and conversions

While basic decimal-to-binary conversion was generally handled well, questions requiring candidates to calculate the number of bits needed for a given number of values, work with floating-point (mantissa and exponent), or explain why a number cannot be represented exactly in binary consistently differentiated candidates across all years.

Question Paper

Web design — external CSS, reading HTML/CSS to predict browser output, file-size reduction

The 2023 report identified that many candidates could not describe a benefit of external CSS and could not write an external CSS class with corresponding HTML. The 2025 report noted that describing how file sizes can be reduced (e.g. for audio files) and explaining the difference between absolute and relative addressing were consistently demanding. Candidates need to read CSS and HTML code and predict what the browser would display.

Question Paper, Assignment