Students across the UK are facing disappointing A-level results, with top grades dropping and a scramble for university clearing places as many miss out on their first-choice institutions.
Fall back to pre-pandemic levels
After the abandonment of pandemic-era teacher assessments and the return of normal exams, A-level marks have fallen back to 2019 levels.
Decrease in top grades
The proportion of A-level entries awarded an A or A* has plunged 9.2% to 27.2%, compared to 36.4% last year. This represents a drop of 73,000 top grades.
Pass rate decline
The percentage of students achieving a pass mark above an E has dipped to 97.3% from 98.4% in 2022. This is the lowest pass rate since 2008.
Leftover university places
As a result of their disappointing results, approximately 19,000 teenagers have been rejected from their top two university preferences and are now competing for Clearing courses.
Educational Secretary downplays A-Levels
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has downplayed the significance of A-Levels in one's career, stating that they will not be relevant in the long term.
Key developments
- The gap between richer and poorer students going to university has slightly increased.
- The number of international students has decreased, although China remains the top destination.
- There has been a surge in popularity for the Economics subject, knocking Geography out of the top 10 A Levels.
- The UCAS website crashed, leaving students anxiously awaiting their results.
- In London, 30% of results were A or A*, compared to 22% in the North East.
Return to pre-pandemic standards
The decrease in A-Level marks was orchestrated by regulators who believe it is necessary to return to 2019 standards in order to make fair comparisons across different cohorts.
In 2020 and 2021, teachers awarded generous grades, resulting in a fifth of papers being marked as A*.
Article tagged under: A-level results
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