A major drop in A-level exam outcomes has been recorded in England, as students across the country received their results on Thursday.
The government examinations regulator Ofqual reported that 26.5 percent of A-levels in England were graded A or A*.
This is a 9.4 percent drop from last year’s results when the proportion of A and A* grades was 35.9 percent.
However, compared with the 2019 results of 25.2 percent—before exams were cancelled during COVID-19 lockdowns—students did slightly better this year.
A-levels are subject-based qualifications for students aged 16 and above. They are used as entry requirements for universities and colleges.
The last year when exams were taken and marked normally was in 2019, before lockdowns disrupted the education timetable for students in the UK.
This means that the cohort of students who are receiving their A-levels this year did not sit GCSEs. Instead they were awarded grades by their teachers.
The Department for Education said that examiners made allowances for GCSEs and A-levels this year where national performance was found to be slightly lower than before the pandemic.
“This will create a level of protection for students as grading returns to normal, following the disruption of recent years,” the department said.
The results published by Ofqual on Thursday included those of 2023 and 2019, because the regulator argued it would be “most meaningful” this way.
Overall AS results, which refer to Advanced Subsidiary level with a smaller course content than an A-level, were similar to 2019. Outcomes at grade A were 21.8 percent compared to 20.1 percent in 2019.
The southeast of England showed the highest percentage of students—30.3 percent—achieving A and A* grades, compared to other regions. In 2019, this figure amounted to 28.3 percent.
The northeast and Yorkshire and the Humber were the only two regions of England where the proportion of students awarded the top grades was lower than in 2019.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan congratulated the students, who she said had to face “unprecedented circumstances in the years building up to this summer.”
Ms. Keegan defended the overall pass rate, which this year fell to 97.3 percent, compared with 98.4 percent in 2022 and 97.6 percent in 2019.
Next Steps
It comes as the higher education admission service UCAS reported that 79 percent of students have gained a place at their first choice of university or college.This is a drop from 81 percent last year but an increase from 74 percent in the pre-pandemic 2019.
For UK 18-year-olds, today’s UCAS figures show that more than 230,600 have been accepted to a higher education institution of their first choice. In 2022, this number was 3.1 percent higher but in 2019 it was 15.7 percent lower.
“For anyone who may not have got the results they were hoping for, or for those applicants who want to change their mind, there is plenty of choice in Clearing with nearly 29,000 courses and 8,000 apprenticeships currently available,” Clare Marchant, chief executive of UCAS, said in a statement.
UK universities and colleges use the clearing system at the end of the academic year to fill course places that haven’t been taken. Students who end up getting worse or better grades than expected often use the system to choose their university course.
