Scotland does not sit GCSEs, and a tutor who teaches to the English syllabus is teaching your child the wrong course. We teach the Curriculum for Excellence through S1 to S3 and then National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher — including Applications of Mathematics, which is a different course rather than an easier one.
Why this page exists
Almost every online tutoring service in the UK writes about GCSEs and key stages, then adds Scotland as an afterthought. Scottish pupils sit neither. The qualifications, the year names, the exam timetable and the university entry route are all different, and a tutor working from an English scheme of work is confidently teaching the wrong thing.
Scottish schools run a broad general education from S1 to S3 under the Curriculum for Excellence, with no national exam. Qualifications begin in S4 with National 5, then Higher in S5 and Advanced Higher in S6. Higher is the one universities look at, which is why S5 carries a weight that Year 12 in England does not.
There is also a second route that gets overlooked. Applications of Mathematics exists at National 5 and Higher alongside Mathematics, and it is a genuinely different course — finance, statistics, modelling and real data rather than pure algebra. It is not the easier option, and pupils sitting it need to be taught it rather than given watered-down Mathematics.
A pupil in Glasgow revising for a GCSE paper is revising for an exam they will never sit. It happens more often than it should.
Why we ask which country firstWho sets it
On 1 February 2026, Qualifications Scotland replaced the SQA as Scotland's national awarding body. The name on the paperwork changed; the courses did not. National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Mathematics all remain current, and the 2026 exam diet ran as normal.
We mention it because it caused a fair amount of confusion in parent groups this year, and because a tutoring company that has not noticed a change of awarding body is not paying close attention to the country it claims to teach.
Where guidance is genuinely still moving — and some of it is, following the wider review of Scottish qualifications — we would rather say so than pretend to a certainty nobody has. What we teach is the course specification currently in force for the exam your child is actually sitting.
What we cover
The broad general education years, where the algebra that National 5 assumes is either built or quietly missed. A gap is far easier to close here, before it has a grade attached to it.
Expressions and formulae, relationships, and applications, plus the numeracy that underpins them. The first national exam, and for many pupils the first time maths has felt like it counts.
Functions, calculus and vectors at Higher; further calculus, matrices, complex numbers and proof at Advanced Higher. Higher is the qualification universities read.
Courses
Tell us which one your child is sitting when you book. Mathematics and Applications of Mathematics are separate courses and are prepared for differently.
Getting started
Nothing is charged until you have watched a real lesson with your own child.
The first question is never "what year are they in". It is "which course are they sitting, and when".
What we ask a Scottish parent firstS1 to S3, or National 4, National 5, Higher or Advanced Higher — and whether it is Mathematics or Applications of Mathematics. That one answer changes everything we prepare.
Class times are shown in UK time, and reminders arrive in it. Weekday late afternoons and evenings, and weekends.
Free, with the tutor who would go on to teach your child. Spent finding where the ground stops being solid, not describing the service.
Honestly, including if we think tutoring is not what your child needs, and including if the exam is too close for what you are hoping for.
Why us
National 5 or Higher, Mathematics or Applications. We ask before the first lesson, because these are different courses and preparing for the wrong one wastes a term.
Teacher and pupil write into the same live worksheet at the same time. Scottish marking rewards method; a tutor who only receives the finished answer cannot see where it broke.
Not a marketplace where whoever is free takes the slot. Continuity matters most in an exam year, when nobody has time to re-explain what happened last month.
Every price is on the site in sterling. No quote-on-enquiry, no discount that depends on how hesitant you sound.
Prices in pounds. Every class is 55 minutes, one-to-one, with the same teacher. First class free, no card required.
Where we teach
We teach to whichever curriculum a child's school actually follows, which is why the qualifications on this page are not the ones on the others.
Common Core and state standards, K–12
Your province's curriculum, grades 1–12
Australian Curriculum v9.0 and your state's syllabus
NZ Curriculum phases and NCEA, Years 1–13
If your child is in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, the UK page covers GCSE and A-Level instead.
Common questions
Also worth reading
Different country, different qualifications.
For England, Wales and Northern Ireland — Years 9 to 11, all three boards, foundation and higher tier.
GCSE tutoringYears 12 and 13 including Further Maths, across AQA, Edexcel and OCR.
A-Level tutoringFull tables for every stage, what is included, and what tutoring normally costs in the UK.
See pricingFirst class
55 minutes. The real classroom. No card. We confirm details on email and WhatsApp within a day.
Last updated · May 2026
When you book a demo or sign up for classes, we collect your name, your child's name, email, WhatsApp number, time zone, and the grade you're inquiring about. That's it. We don't ask for or store any payment details on this website. We don't use trackers, cookies for advertising, or third-party analytics that profile you.
Only to schedule and run your classes, send you class reminders, share homework and progress, and answer your questions. We'll reach out by email or WhatsApp, depending on what you tell us works better for you.
Your teacher, and the small team supporting them at ClassArc. We never sell, rent, or share your information with anyone outside ClassArc. We use Formspree to receive form submissions, and standard email and WhatsApp for messaging, nothing else.
We treat any information about your child with extra care. We only collect what we need to teach them well, such as their grade and what they're working on. We never use a child's photo, name, or work in any marketing without the parent's explicit written permission.
You can ask us to show you what we have on file, correct anything inaccurate, or delete your data entirely, at any time. Just email hello@theclassarc.com and we'll handle it within a few days.
Email hello@theclassarc.com. A real person will reply.
Last updated · May 2026
ClassArc is a one-on-one online tutoring service. We provide live, scheduled classes between a teacher and a student, along with homework, feedback, and study support.
Each class is 55 minutes. You can reschedule or cancel a class up to 5 minutes before it starts. If you miss a class without notice, we usually credit it back to your balance and reschedule based on what works for the teacher and student.
The first demo class is free, no card required. After that, plans are billed in advance for the number of classes you choose (8, 24, or ~48). We'll send you a payment link directly once you've picked a plan.
If you want to stop classes at any point, we refund whatever class balance is left on your plan. No questions asked, no friction. Refunds are processed within 7 business days.
We expect students and parents to treat teachers with respect, and teachers to do the same. We reserve the right to end the relationship if classes become unsafe, abusive, or disruptive, with a full refund of any unused balance.
If we update these terms, we'll email you before the changes take effect, so you have time to review them.
For anything, email hello@theclassarc.com.