My Qualifications Scotland (MySQA): Results by Text in 2026

The My Qualifications Scotland sign-up deadline — 5pm on Wednesday 15 July 2026 — has passed, and the service is closed until Wednesday 5 August 2026. If you registered and activated an account in time, your exam results arrive by text and email from 8am on results day, Tuesday 4 August 2026. If you missed it, you're not locked out of your results — the paper certificate still lands on 4 August — you just wait a few hours longer for the postie.

This guide covers both halves: what to expect if you signed up in time, and exactly what happens if you didn't.

Quick answer: My Qualifications Scotland (formerly MySQA) is Qualifications Scotland's free results-alert service at my.qualifications.gov.scot. The sign-up deadline for the 2026 diet was 5pm on 15 July 2026, and the service is now closed until Wednesday 5 August 2026 — there is no late sign-up. Signed up in time? Your National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher results arrive by text and email from 8am on Tuesday 4 August 2026. Missed it? Your certificate still arrives by first-class post on results day, and UCAS gets your results automatically either way.

What is My Qualifications Scotland?

My Qualifications Scotland is the renamed MySQA — same service, new name. The SQA was formally replaced by Qualifications Scotland on 1 February 2026, and its candidate services moved across with it. If your older child used MySQA at mysqa.org.uk a few years ago, this is the same thing at a new address: my.qualifications.gov.scot.

The account does two things:

• Results alerts — your grades by text and/or email on the morning of results day, before the certificate arrives in the post
• A record of your qualifications — an online view of what you've been awarded, which stays with you after school

It's free, it's official, and it's the fastest way to get results — genuinely useful if your child will be on holiday, at work, or otherwise away from the letterbox on 4 August.

🏴 Scotland-specific: There's no equivalent of England's staggered results system here. One service, one sign-up, and every qualification — National 3 to Advanced Higher — lands in a single notification on the first Tuesday of August.

How sign-up works when the window is open

The 2026 window has closed, but the process is the same every year — worth knowing for an S4 or S5 pupil sitting exams in 2027. Sign-up needs two things: an email address and the pupil's Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) — printed on the exam timetable and on any previous certificate. School or college offices can supply it, or call Qualifications Scotland on 0345 279 1000.

1. 1

   Go to my.qualifications.gov.scot

   Use the official portal only — my.qualifications.gov.scot. Schools hand out reminders, but pupils have to register themselves.
2. 2

   Register with email + Scottish Candidate Number

   The SCN links the account to the exam entries, so double-check the digits. A typo here is the most common reason an account fails verification.
3. 3

   Activate the account

   Registering is not enough on its own — the account must be activated too, and both steps must be done before the summer deadline (for the 2026 diet that was 5pm on Wednesday 15 July). An activation email left sitting in an inbox is how most people miss it.
4. 4

   Choose text, email or both

   Pick both. Texts are sent from 8am on results day but network delivery can lag — the email is your backup, and vice versa.

🚨 No late sign-up: The 2026 deadline — 5pm, Wednesday 15 July — has passed, and My Qualifications Scotland is closed until Wednesday 5 August 2026 while accounts are verified and results loaded. There is no late sign-up for the 2026 diet. If you missed it, here's exactly what happens — short version: your certificate still arrives on results day.

What arrives when on results day

Everyone gets the paper certificate. My Qualifications Scotland just adds a faster lane on the morning itself.

Two things worth knowing about the text service:

• "From 8am" means from 8am. Messages are sent in batches and mobile networks are hammered that morning, so some arrive later. A text at 9.15am doesn't mean something has gone wrong.
• The text is a summary, not the formal record. The paper Scottish Qualifications Certificate is the document universities, colleges and employers may ask to see — keep it safe.

For the full morning-by-morning rundown — UCAS at 8am, Clearing at 9am, what to do in each scenario — see the Results Day 2026 hub, and if the grades throw up surprises, how grade boundaries work explains why a mark that felt like a B can certificate as an A (or the reverse).

Deadline Tracker — every Scottish education deadline with live countdowns, including the My Qualifications Scotland cut-off, SAAS and UCAS dates. No sign-up required.

Missed the 15 July deadline? Here's exactly what happens

This is the bit most pages skip, so let's be precise about it.

You still get your results on results day

Your Scottish Qualifications Certificate is posted first class to arrive on results day itself — Tuesday 4 August 2026, usually in the morning delivery. Missing the text sign-up does not delay your results by "a few days"; it delays them by however long your postie takes.

Your school will have them too

Most secondary schools open on the morning of 4 August so pupils can collect a printed copy of their results and talk to guidance staff — which is exactly where you want to be anyway if an appeal or a Clearing call is on the cards. Phone the school office this week to check opening arrangements.

UCAS is completely unaffected

Qualifications Scotland sends results directly to UCAS for every candidate. Your firm and insurance decisions update on UCAS Hub from 8am on 4 August whether or not you ever heard of MySQA. If both choices are unsuccessful, Clearing opens at 9am — the text service has no bearing on any of it.

If nothing arrives on the day

Post not delivered by early afternoon, or delivered without a certificate in it? Contact your school or college first — they hold your results. If they can't help, call Qualifications Scotland's candidate line on 0345 279 1000.

💡 Parent tip: If your child missed the sign-up, plan the morning around the school rather than the letterbox: walk in for 9am, results in hand by ten past, guidance staff on tap if a priority appeal or Clearing call is needed. It's a better setup than refreshing an empty phone at home.

Sign up for next year instead

The window closes each summer and reopens ahead of the next exam diet. An S4 or S5 pupil who missed this year's cut-off should register in the spring of 2027, well before the summer deadline — and the account then stays active for every future diet, so it's a one-time job.

The honest take

The text service is convenience, not access — nobody's results are held hostage behind a sign-up form. But the convenience is real on the one morning of the year when minutes feel long, and the deadline was genuinely immovable. If you beat the 5pm, 15 July cut-off, your grades land on your phone from 8am on 4 August. If you didn't, it's a slightly twitchier breakfast waiting for the post — with the school office as the faster fallback. That's the whole trade.

Before 4 August: the two-minute checklist

1. Signed up in time? Expect the text and email from 8am on 4 August — and don't panic if they arrive later in the morning, delivery lags when the networks are busy.
2. Missed the deadline? Phone the school office this week to check results-morning opening arrangements — collecting in person beats waiting on the post.
3. Write down the SCN and the UCAS Personal ID — needed for any Clearing call or appeal, however the results arrive.
4. Add 4 August to the family calendar — and read the full results day guide so everyone knows the plan for each scenario.

UCAS Points Calculator — turn predicted or actual Higher and Advanced Higher grades into tariff points before any Clearing call. No sign-up required.

Information checked against Qualifications Scotland's published guidance on 20 July 2026 — including confirmation that My Qualifications Scotland is closed until Wednesday 5 August 2026. Dates and deadlines for future exam diets are announced by Qualifications Scotland each spring.