Qualifications Scotland (SQA) National 5 Modern Studies Past Papers 2026

Three-section: Democracy in Scotland & UK + Social Issues + International

Duration: 2 hours 20 minutes

Researched investigation

Duration: Research stage ~8 hours notional; production of evidence 1 hour, single sitting, high supervision

Why the media is influential in a democracy — explaining influence rather than describing media use

The 2023 report identified that candidates in Section 1 frequently described how political parties use traditional and social media during an election campaign rather than explaining why the media is influential in a democracy. The 8-mark 'knowledge' questions on this topic were among the clearest discriminators between grade levels.

Question Paper — Section 1 (Q3a, Q6a)

Explaining why trade unions and pressure groups are influential — not just describing their methods

The 2024 report specifically notes that some candidates were unable to explain why trade unions or pressure groups are influential in a democracy and simply gave a description of the methods they use. This was contrasted with excellent responses on committees and the House of Lords, showing candidates had not applied the same analytical depth across all topics.

Question Paper — Section 1 (Q3a, Q6a)

Source evaluation 'options' question — using conflicting source evidence to reject the unchosen option

All three reports flag part (iii) of the options question as consistently challenging. The 2024 report gives a detailed worked example: candidates failed to use the pie chart showing 54% of GPs supporting a ban (not 'almost all') to rebut source 3's claim. The 2025 report notes a similar failure with contradicting evidence on MPs' second job earnings. Confusing supporting and rejecting evidence was the most common error.

Question Paper — source evaluation 'options' question

Explaining economic causes of social and economic inequality — candidates describe factors rather than explain the causal chain

The 2024 report flags that candidates often found it difficult to explain why unemployment can cause social and economic inequality and instead described other factors such as poor housing, poor health and poor educational attainment without linking them causally. The 2023 report similarly notes that the 'explain' questions were challenging for less well-prepared candidates.

Question Paper — Section 2 (Q10, Q13)

International Issues — describing consequences on 'other countries and their governments' vs. describing domestic consequences

The 2024 report notes that a few candidates did not identify that Q18 required them to describe consequences on 'other countries and their governments' and instead described consequences within the country where the issue arose. Candidates who had studied the nuclear threat also struggled to provide current exemplification beyond outdated historical events.

Question Paper — Section 3 (Q18, Q20)

MSPs and MPs representing constituents — understanding representation vs. constituency work

The 2025 report flags that Questions 1 and 4 proved very challenging, with many candidates unable to achieve the 4 marks available. Candidates struggled to describe two ways that MSPs or MPs represent their constituents in Parliament, instead describing the work they do in their own constituencies — a different concept that does not address the question.

Question Paper — Section 1 (Q1, Q4)

Assignment Section B — evaluating own research methods specifically rather than generically

Both the 2024 and 2025 reports flag that candidates who described 'the internet' or 'class textbooks' as their research methods gave generic descriptions with no specific strengths and weaknesses tied to their actual research. Candidates who did not include their research sheet could not access the marks for this section at all.

Assignment — Section B

Choosing appropriate Modern Studies topics for the assignment — avoiding philosophy, history, and sciences

Both the 2024 and 2025 reports warn that topics such as the death penalty, euthanasia, and the legalisation of cannabis often cause candidates to approach them from a moral or philosophical perspective more suited to RMPS, preventing access to the full mark range. Climate change and GM crops can lead to geographical or biological assignments. Historical topics are similarly discouraged.

Assignment — Section A