A-level top grades climb and return to pre-pandemic levels
Students were very happy with their results
GB News
National figures show that the proportion of A-level entries awarded top grades is up compared to last year and remains above pre-pandemic levels.
The number of students receiving grades A or A* has risen by 0.6 percentage points on last year from 27.2 per cent to 27.8 per cent still higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019 where they stood at 25.4 per cent.
The overall proportion of students receiving A* grades has risen by 0.4 percentage points to 9.3 per cent compared to 8.9 per cent in 2023 and 7.3 per cent in 2019.
That makes it the highest number of A* awarded since 2010 excluding the years 2020-2022.
Students were very happy with their results
GB News
However, the overall pass rate has fallen to 97.2 per cent this year, which is lower than last year (97.3 per cent) and the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (97.6 per cent).
The England exam regulator Ofqual expected the results to be “broadly similar” to last year.
Ofqual’s chief regulator stated: “There is no grade inflation this year Standards have been maintained from 2023.
"Any change is largely due to the ability of the cohort.”
The number of students receiving grades A or A* has risen by 0.6 percentage points on last year
GB News
Ucas figures show that the number of applicants accepted on to UK degree courses has risen this year by six per cent from 230,600 to 243,650.
Boys performed better at the top grade with 9.5 per cent of boys’ entries scoring an A* compared with 9.1 per cent of girls’ entries a gap of 0.4 percentage points defence compared to last year when it was 0.3 percentage point difference.
However, girls continued to perform better at A and A*.
Statistics also showed that the gap between the performance of independent schools and comprehensives has widened this year.
Girls continued to perform better at A and A*
GB News
Ofqual figures show that this summer, 49.4 per cent of independent school candidates scored grade A or above in all subjects, compared with 22.3 per cent of those at comprehensive schools.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, stated: “While the dark days of the pandemic are in the past, its legacy continues to haunt us and this has impacted upon young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
Students in Scotland received their results on Tuesday. Figures from the Scottish Qualifications Authority showed 77.2 per cent of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C – down from 78.8 per cent last year.
For Highers, 74.9 per cent passed with the top bands, down from 77.1 per cent last year.