Top grades fall by a quarter in post-pandemic A-level shake-up

Students saw the biggest ever drop in A-level results today with top grades plunging by a quarter as exam chiefs battle pandemic grade inflation.

Teenagers now face a scramble to secure university places in one of the most fiercely competitive clearing rounds yet. Top grades dropped by 25 per cent compared to last year, but are still higher than before the pandemic.

It means there were 73,000 fewer top grades awarded this year than last year, but 32,000 more than in 2019. Results were deliberately lower for the second year running as exams watchdog Ofqual aimed to reduce grades that had spiralled during the pandemic when exams were cancelled and marks were based on teacher assessment.

Geoff Barton, head of the Association of School and College Leaders, said today’s results will feel like a “bruising experience” for many students.

Today’s results, published by exam boards, show:

• 27.2 per cent of A-levels were graded A or A*. This is a 25 per cent drop from last year when 36.4 per cent were given the top mark.

• Today’s results are seven per cent higher than 2019 grades, which was the last year of normal grading. Results were made deliberately lower this year in a bid to return grades to 2019 levels, when 25.4 per cent of exams were given the top marks.

• Wales and Northern Ireland took a softer approach to returning to pre-pandemic grading, meaning the fall in results was steepest in England, where just 26.5 per cent of exams got the top grades, compared to 34 per cent in Wales and 37.5 per cent in Northern Ireland.

• 19,000 students are today without a university place after failing to get the grades needed for their offer.

• At independent schools 47.4 per cent of exams were graded A/A*, compared to 22 per cent at comprehensive schools. In academies the figure was 25.4 per cent and in free schools 34.8 per cent.

• In England 3,820 students got a full house of three A* grades. This is a drop from last year’s figure of 8,570 but higher than in 2019. At the height of the pandemic in 2021 when grades were based on teacher assessment the figure was 12,945.

• London stretched its lead on the rest of the country, with 10.5 per cent of exams awarded an A* — making it the highest scoring region. In total, 30 per cent of exams taken in London were graded A/A* – just behind the South East at 30.3 per cent. London is also the most improved region, with a 11.5 per cent increase in top grades since 2019.

• Boys regained their lead over girls in A* grades which they had lost during the pandemic. 9.1 per cent of A-levels taken by boys were graded A* compared to 8.1 per cent for girls. But girls scored more A grades.

• Maths was the most popular A-Level, taken by 96,853 students, making up 11.2 per cent of the total exams taken. Psychology was the second most popular with 9.3 per cent of the total entries, followed by Biology, History, Chemistry and Sociology.

• Computing A-level is gaining in popularity at the fastest rate, with a 16.7 per cent increase in students taking it. Economics also made it into the top ten most popular subjects. Exam boards said the changes showed that school-leavers were thinking about their future and the skills they needed to get a job.

• There has been a huge drop of almost 16 per cent in the number of students taking German — only 2,358 took the subject this year. Numbers taking French and Spanish also dropped by almost 11 per cent each.

• The overall A*-E pass rate dropped to 97.3 per cent compared with 98.4 per cent last year — and it is lower than before the pandemic.

Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) figures show the number of students accepted onto degree courses has fallen. It said 79 per cent of 18-year-old applicants secured their first choice, which is down from 81 per cent last year but up from 74 per cent in 2019.

Students now face an intense clearing system because of the drop in top grades combined with an increase in 18-year-olds in the population, as well as competition for places from international students. This year’s students may also be competing for places with students from past years who benefitted from higher results in the pandemic.

They have been described as the “unluckiest cohort” of the pandemic because they faced tougher exam grading yet still experienced pandemic disruption. Their GCSEs two years ago were cancelled and they also faced disruption due to teacher strikes.

But some experts said the reduction in top grades is beneficial because students now have a more accurate assessment of their capabilities than previous cohorts — some of whom struggled on university courses too difficult for them.

Dr Jo Saxton, chief regulator of exams watchdog Ofqual, said protections had been put in place to ensure pupils in England did not do worse than in 2019.