The number of guilty cases climbed by 22%, to 314, from 2008 to 2009.
The number of cases of cheating using a mobile phone, some of which have internet access, has more than doubled.
The SQA said the penalties for cheating ranged from zero marks for individual exam papers to disqualification from all examinations.
Other forms of malpractice or cheating on exams included pupils caught colluding and taking in notes.
Last year about 160,000 candidates took 736,920 exams which resulted in 506 cases of cheating being investigated, with penalties being applied to 314 candidates.
This equated to 0.04% of the total, slightly above the level of 0.03% in England.
In 2008, there were 750,559 exams taken with 673 cheating cases investigated.
A total of 257 pupils were found to have broken the rules.
And the number of cases of cheating using a mobile phone rose from 49 in 2008 to 113 in 2009.
The exam board said that all candidates are warned of the consequences of cheating in a booklet they receive prior to taking their examinations.
A spokesman for the SQA said: "We have noted the slight increase in the numbers of candidates who have contravened our mobile phone rules but candidates are aware that our invigilators will rigorously apply our rules and this is why the overall numbers of candidates who contravene our malpractice rules is extremely low.
News Source :- http://news.bbc.co.uk
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