Advanced higher modern studies: the course and where to find data
How the exam and the dissertation are marked, and the official Scottish data worth using, with the weakness of each source spelled out.
By Graeme · Published 29 October 2026 · 6 min read
Last updated · Figures checked
Quick answer · Advanced Higher Modern Studies marks
140marks in total
A 3 hours exam worth 90 marks (64% of the grade) and a project dissertation worth 50 (36%).
- Exam
- 90 marks, 3 hours
- Dissertation
- 50 marks, 5,000 words
- Grade A in 2026
- 98 out of 140
- Exam in 2027
- Wednesday 26 May 2027, 9am to 12 noon
Course specification version 2.0, September 2019Source Qualifications Scotland
On this page
Advanced Higher Modern Studies is worth 140 marks: a 3 hours exam worth 90 and a 5,000 word dissertation worth 50. It is the closest school gets to a university social science course, and the dissertation lives or dies on good data. This guide covers the course, then where to find that data and how to judge it.
How it is assessed
Course code C849 77, SCQF level 7
Two parts, one grade
| Part | Marks | Length | Share of your grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exam (question paper) | 90 | 3 hours | 64% |
| Project dissertation | 50 | 5,000 words | 36% |
The exam
You choose one of three sections and answer questions from that section only. Each section has two parts:
- Part A: two 30 mark extended responses, from a choice of three.
- Part B: two questions you must both answer, one 15 mark question on research methods and one 15 mark question on how trustworthy a source is.
Choose one section
The three sections and their topics
| Section | Topics |
|---|---|
| Political issues and research methods | Power and influence; Political ideology; Political structures; Social science research methods and issues |
| Law and order and research methods | Understanding the criminal justice system; Understanding criminal behaviour; Responses by society to crime; Social science research methods and issues |
| Social inequality and research methods | Understanding social inequality; The impact of social inequality; Responses to social inequality; Social science research methods and issues |
In topics A to C you compare the UK, including Scotland, with other countries, and you choose which countries. Topic D, research methods, is the same in every section. It covers official statistics, surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, case studies and longitudinal studies, and how to judge sources made with each.
The dissertation
You choose a complex, current political or social issue and research it independently. The word count is 5,000, including the main body and your evaluation of research methods, but not the contents page, bibliography, footnotes or appendices. Go more than 10% over and a penalty applies.
50 marks
How the dissertation is marked
| What you have to do | Marks |
|---|---|
| Justifying a complex, contemporary political or social issue | 8 |
| Evaluating your research methods | 6 |
| Using a wide range of sources | 6 |
| Analysing the issue | 8 |
| Evaluating arguments and evidence | 8 |
| Synthesis: a sustained line of argument to a conclusion | 10 |
| Organising, presenting and referencing | 4 |
Qualifications Scotland publishes an approved list of dissertation titles on the course page, along with a form for checking your own title. The 2026 course report said pupils who built their own titles often wrote insightful dissertations on current issues, and asked schools to support that.
Where to find data
Using a wide range of sources is worth marks, and so is evaluating them. Below are the official sources I use on this site, what each one is good for, and its main weakness. The weakness is the part that earns you evaluation marks, so don't skip it.
Official and expert sources
What each source is good for, and its catch
| Source | Good for | The catch | On this site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scottish Government, Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland | Poverty rates for Scotland by age and family type | Built on a household survey, so it is not reliable for single councils, and single years jump about | Poverty in Scotland |
| End Child Poverty and Loughborough University | Child poverty for every council and constituency | Estimates worked out from official data, not direct counts | Area pages |
| National Records of Scotland, drug related deaths | Deaths by deprivation, age and council | Rates are age standardised: right for comparing places, but you have to explain what that means | Drug deaths |
| Recorded Crime in Scotland | Crimes recorded by the police, by type and council | Only counts crime that is reported and recorded, so changes to recording can move the figures | Shoplifting |
| Local Government Benchmarking Framework | Council costs and performance on the same measures | Councils differ in size, rurality and deprivation, so compare like with like | Best council |
| Audit Scotland, council budgets | Where council money comes from and the budget gaps | Councils work out their gaps differently, so comparisons need care | Council records |
| Scottish Household Survey | What residents think of their council and area | Samples for each council are small, so small differences may just be chance | Best council |
| Scottish and UK Parliament open data | Who MSPs and MPs are, their roles and their votes | A vote shows what happened, not why a member voted that way | MPs and MSPs |
| Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Poverty in Scotland | Who is in poverty and why, plus public attitudes | A charity that campaigns against poverty: careful analysis, but it argues for change | Causes of poverty |
Real examples for research methods questions
Part B rewards specific examples. Generic points about surveys being biased don't go far. Here are three real ones from Scottish data.
A survey that got better, and broke its own trend
Scotland's poverty figures come from the Family Resources Survey. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation explains that the Department for Work and Pensions now checks what people say about their benefits against its own records, because benefits used to be undercounted. The figures are more accurate, but they can't be compared directly with the old series. A neat example of reliability improving while comparison over time gets harder.
Why one year can mislead
On the new data, the single year child poverty rate was 27% in 2022/23, 16% in 2023/24, 21% in 2024/25. The JRF says single year figures like these should be read with extreme caution, which is why it uses three year averages. That is a clear case for discussing sample size and why survey results bounce around.
Lived experience alongside statistics
The JRF's 2026 report combined official statistics with a representative survey of adults and research with people who have lived experience of poverty. It is a good example of mixed methods: the numbers show how big a problem is, the lived experience shows why, and each covers a weakness in the other.
Using this site as a source
You can, but treat it like any secondary source. It is an independent site run by one person, not a government body. Every figure links to the official original and the methods page explains every calculation, which helps reliability. For a dissertation, go to the original wherever you can and cite that.
Results and the 2027 exam
Advanced Higher Modern Studies, 2026
Marks needed out of 140
| Grade | Minimum mark |
|---|---|
| A | 98 |
| B | 84 |
| C | 70 |
| D | 56 |
The 2027 exam is on Wednesday 26 May 2027, 9am to 12 noon. The course specification, specimen paper, coursework task and course reports are all on the Advanced Higher Modern Studies course page, and past papers from 2022 are on the past papers page.
Start with the poverty evidence
Social inequality is the most data rich section. The causes of poverty guide sets out the official evidence with Scottish figures and sources you can follow back.
Causes of poverty
