Thank you very much for clearing it up, I can think more clearly now after
getting muddled with what I started. It's good to know Arrays can be used
that way, sometimes compiler errors make it seem like nothing is
possible!

And yes, apologies, I should have explained more about what this program
is required to do which I will do now.

It gets a little complex which is why I got muddled in the first place
because I have to restrict so much.

1. The compts array collects components which are boundaries for the
marks.

2. The marks must be within this boundary but there must be one mark for
each component.

3. The components must add up to 100 thus the marks must be under 100,
they don't necessarily need to be 100 since a component could be out 25
with a mark of 15.

5. There must only be 5 components (but I included that in a while loop as
a start anyway and it seems to work).

So instead of asking for an input of 5 marks when the number of components
= 5, the program needs to ask for 5 components which set the highest number
the mark for that component can be.

Example-

I input 5 for the number of components.

component 1 = 20
(2-4)
component 5 = 20

total is 100

Then when marks are collected, they can only be a maximum of 20 for all
components. (but not necessarily 20 for all of them every time)

I hope this makes sense of things.

Also, is it possible for arrays to work in different methods? because I
have another method that finds the highest mark inputted so it would need
to corespond to the mark array.

Well I've had ago at applying the cleaned up code to the program, it's
getting there at least. There are things within the code which have not
been calculated yet, I'm at this stage just attempting to get the mark and
component values working together before I do any more output
calculations.

This is my second attempt at it:

(The code shouldn't look too messy elsewhere, I still need to work on
clearer designs)

public class Marks2 {

  public static void getInput(int[] compts, int[]   marks) {
    // Enter Components
    System.out.println("\n\nPlease enter "+ compts.length +
    + " mark     components ");

    // Loop around until number of components reached
    for (int x = 0; x < compts.length; x++) {
                  System.out.print("Component Number " + (x + 1) + " :
");
                           compts[x] = EasyIn.getInt();
        compts[x]++;

       // Loop to collect marks
    for (int i = 0; i < 1; i++) {
        System.out.print("Please enter mark  : ");
           marks[i] = EasyIn.getInt();
               }

    do {
                   for (int i = 0; i < 1; i++) {
                        System.out.print("***Error: Please enter valid
mark
         + : ");
               marks[i] = EasyIn.getInt();
                  }
          }
   
    while (marks[x] > compts[x] || marks[x] < 0);

        }
    //System.out.print("Component Total " + compts[x] );
  }

  public static void findHighest(int[] compts, int[] marks ) {
    int highest;
    highest = marks[0];
   
    for (int x = 1 ; x < marks.length ; x++) {
        if (marks[x] > highest)    
           highest = marks[x];
        }
   
    System.out.println("Discounted scores : highest : " + highest);

  }

  public static void outputMarks(int[] compts, int[] marks) {

    System.out.println("\n\n\tResults Breakdown\n\n "
    + "\t==========================\n");
    System.out.println("\tFails :\t\t\t " );
    System.out.println("\tPasses :\t\t "  );
    System.out.println("\tMerits :\t\t "  );
    System.out.println("\tDistinctions :\t\t "  );
    System.out.println    +("\n\t==========================\n\n"

    + "\tTotal graded: \t\t "  );
    System.out.println("\tPercentage failed :\t "  );
    System.out.println    ("\t==========================\n\n");

    System.out.println("\n\n\tThe 'best program of the year' award     goes to:
\n"
    + "\twith a final mark of "   );

    }

   public static void main(String[] args) {

    String foreName;
    String surName;
    int comptsNum;
           int markNum = 5;
    char Yes_No;

    do {

    System.out.print("\n\nPlease enter the  forename : ");
           foreName = EasyIn.getString();

    while (foreName.length() < 0 || foreName.length() > 20);
    {
    System.out.print("\n*** Error: forename is " +         foreName.length() + "
characters\n "
    + " Enter forename between 2-20 characters : ");
    foreName = EasyIn.getString();
    }

    System.out.print("\n\nPlease enter the  surname : ");
                     surName = EasyIn.getString();

    while (surName.length() < 0 || surName.length() > 20);
    {
                                System.out.print("\n*** Error: surname is "
    + surName.length() + " characters\n "
    + " Enter forename between 2-20 characters : ");
          surName = EasyIn.getString();
    }

    do {
    System.out.print("\n\nEnter number of mark components
    + (1-5)     : ");
           comptsNum = EasyIn.getInt();
   
    } while (comptsNum < 1 || comptsNum > 5);

    int[] compts = new int[comptsNum];
    int[] marks = new int[markNum];
    getInput(compts, marks);
    findHighest(compts, marks);
    System.out.println("\n\nDo you wish to enter another
    + set of marks?");

    do {
         System.out.println("\nPlease enter Y or N : ");
        Yes_No = EasyIn.getChar();
       }

    while (Yes_No != 'N' && Yes_No != 'n' && Yes_No != 'Y'
    + && Yes_No != 'y');
    }

    while (Yes_No == 'Y' || Yes_No == 'y' );

    if (Yes_No == 'N' || Yes_No == 'n' )
    {
    int[] compts = new int[comptsNum];
    int[] marks = new int[markNum];

    outputMarks(compts, marks);
    }

    System.out.println("\n\n\t\t\t*** End of program ***
    + \t\t\n\n" );

    }
}

Ironically, the best programmer of the year award for this program
certainly won't go to me...

Based on what I explained in my previous post, it is still missing a few
things in order to output and calculate the right things.

There are a few errors in it, such as the array doesn't fill properly for
some reason and some of the error catching while loops don't work in the
way I intend them to but they should hopefully show what they are meant to
restrict.

Can I get some suggestions on how I can go about adding/fixing things so I
can take it away and work on it again?

If more information is needed please let me know.

Thanks in advance.