How do fitness, skills and tactics combine to determine the quality of a performance?
Physical factors impacting on performance: physical and skill-related fitness, skill level and skill classification, tactics and composition, and how these sub-factors interact within a performance.
An SQA Advanced Higher Physical Education answer on physical factors, covering physical and skill-related fitness, skill level and classification, tactics and composition, and how these sub-factors interact to determine performance, with worked exam-style answers.
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What this part of the course is asking
Physical factors are the bodily and technical influences on performance: how fit the performer is, how skilful, and how well they use tactics and composition. Advanced Higher asks you to explain each sub-factor, classify skills and fitness accurately, and show how the sub-factors interact, because a performance is rarely limited by one alone. The depth expected is to analyse which physical factor is limiting a performance and justify how to develop it.
Fitness: physical and skill-related
Weak physical fitness causes fatigue, and as a performer tires their technique and decision-making deteriorate, so errors cluster late in a performance. Weak skill-related fitness limits movement quality directly: a performer with poor agility cannot change direction sharply however aerobically fit they are. A strong answer names the right component for the activity and links it to a specific demand.
Skill level and skill classification
Classification matters because it guides practice. Closed, simple skills suit repetitive fixed practice to groove the technique, while open, complex skills need varied, game-like practice so the performer learns to read cues and adapt. Matching the practice to the skill's classification develops it efficiently.
Tactics and composition
Effective tactics and composition convert fitness and skill into results. A fit, skilful team with poor tactics can still lose to a well-organised opponent, while a clever tactical plan can offset a physical disadvantage. At Advanced Higher you are expected to analyse tactical effectiveness, not just describe a formation.
How the sub-factors interact
Try this
Q1. State which type of skill suits repetitive, fixed practice to groove the technique. [1 mark]
- Cue. Closed (and simple) skills, performed in a stable, predictable environment.
Q2. Explain why a tactically clever team can beat a fitter, more skilful one. [2 marks]
- Cue. Good tactics exploit the opponents' weaknesses and the team's strengths, so well-organised play can offset a physical or technical disadvantage.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA AH style6 marksDistinguish between physical fitness and skill-related fitness, giving an example of each, and explain how each affects performance.Show worked answer →
A 6-mark answer needs both types defined with an example and a performance effect for each.
Physical fitness components support the body's capacity for work and include cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, speed and flexibility; for example, cardiorespiratory endurance lets a midfielder keep running at intensity for ninety minutes. Skill-related fitness components support the execution of movement and include agility, balance, coordination, power and reaction time; for example, agility lets a netballer change direction quickly to lose a marker.
Effects: weak physical fitness causes fatigue, so technique and decisions deteriorate late in a performance. Weak skill-related fitness limits the quality of movement itself, so the performer is slower to react, less balanced or less coordinated regardless of how fit they are. Markers reward both definitions, a correct example of each, and a credible performance effect for each.
SQA AH style4 marksExplain how skill classification (for example open versus closed skills) is useful when developing performance.Show worked answer →
A 4-mark answer needs the classification explained and its usefulness for development justified.
Skills can be classified on continua: open skills are performed in an unpredictable, changing environment (a pass in a game) while closed skills are performed in a stable, predictable one (a free throw). They also range from simple to complex and from discrete to continuous. The classification describes the demands a skill places on the performer.
It is useful because it guides how the skill should be practised: closed skills suit repetitive, fixed (drill) practice to groove the technique, while open skills need varied, game-like practice so the performer learns to adapt and decide. Classifying the skill first means the practice method matches its demands, which develops it efficiently. Markers reward a correct classification and a justified link to choosing practice.
Related dot points
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An SQA Advanced Higher Physical Education answer on mental factors, covering level of arousal and the inverted-U, cognitive and somatic anxiety, concentration and attentional focus, decision-making, mental toughness, and the approaches used to develop each, with worked exam-style answers.
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- Analysing and developing performance: the cyclical analysis process, setting goals from data, principles of effective practice, methods and models of practice, principles of training, and monitoring and evaluating development.
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