Top A-level grades rise this year, as over 80% of students get into first-choice university
15 August 2024, 09:30
The number of A-level entries awarded either an A* or an A has increased this year after a dip in 2023.
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More than a quarter (27.8%) of UK entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up by 0.6 percentage points on last year, when there was a large drop from 2022.
Hundreds of thousands of students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland got their exam results on Thursday in a year when grading was expected to be restored to 2019 levels in all three nations.
But the proportion of top grades remained higher than the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic - when 25.4% of entries were awarded A or A* grades.
Overall, the proportion of UK entries awarded the top A* grade this year has risen by 0.4 percentage points to 9.3%, compared with 8.9% in 2023, and it is higher than when it stood at 7.7% in 2019.
Meanwhile 82% of students have been accepted into their first-choice university, a 4% increase on last year.
Read more: Students receive A-level results after facing disruption over pandemic and Raac crisis
Excluding 2020-2022, the years of the pandemic, this is the highest proportion of A* grades awarded since they were first handed out in 2010.
But the overall pass rate - the proportion of entries graded A* to E - has fallen to 97.2% this year, which is lower than last year (97.3%) and the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (97.6%).
Many pupils were affected by the RAAC 'crumbly concrete' crisis at the start of the academic year, which caused schools across the country to put children in temporary classrooms.
Others have said they are still dealing with the long-term effects of the pandemic on children, when schools were forced to shut.
Education Secretary speaks to LBC on A-Level Results Day
Ahead of the results being released publicly, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "I want to say a massive congratulations to young people getting their results this morning."
She added that the impact of Covid disruption "is hard to judge in some ways because there were different impacts for different groups of students but there was also the industrial action, they've shown tremendous resilience and they should be really proud of what they achieve today."
Ms Phillipson warned that there was a major gap in achievement between richer and poorer areas - and that this was not likely to close soon.
She said: "My concern is what we've seen in recent years is a big widening of the gap between outcomes for our young people from places like the north-east and the Midlands compared to London and the south-east, that's the record of the last government, those gaps have opened up, and sadly I think we will see those problems continue."
Ms Phillipson said that closing the gap would require "driving high and rising standards in schools, making sure we've got brilliant teachers in our classrooms".
She said that we've got big shortages in some subjects at the moment...and it's what happens beyond the school gate, it's about tackling some of those social problems like child poverty, mental health".
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The figures, published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), cover A-level entries from students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In England, exams regulator Ofqual had said it expected this year's A-level results to be "broadly similar" to last year, when grades were restored to pre-pandemic levels.
In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators said they aimed to return to pre-pandemic grading this summer - a year later than in England.
It comes after the Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in top grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.
Boys have pulled further ahead of girls at the top grade this year, with 9.5% of boys' entries scoring an A* compared with 9.1% of girls' entries - a gap of 0.4 percentage points. Last year the gap was 0.3 percentage points.
Boys have traditionally led girls, scoring more A* grades than their female classmates every year between 2012 and 2019. But girls overtook boys between 2020 and 2022 - the years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Girls continued to outperform boys at A* and A but the gender gap has narrowed again this year.
Some 4,135 students in England alone scored three A* grades, according to separate figures from Ofqual. This is up from 3,820 last year and 2,785 in 2019.
The latest statistics show that the attainment gap between independent schools and comprehensives in England has widened compared with last year.
The latest Ofqual figures show that this summer, 49.4% of independent school candidates scored grade A or above in all subjects, compared with 22.3% of those at comprehensive schools - a gap of 27.1 percentage points.
Last year, the gap was 25.4 percentage points, while in 2019 it was 24.8 percentage points.
The cohort of students who are receiving their results were in Year 9 when schools shut due to Covid-19, and they were the first year group to sit GCSE exams after they were cancelled for two years in a row.
Leaders in the education sector have warned that this cohort of young people has had to overcome a series of challenges - and those from disadvantaged backgrounds have been hit the worst.
Just days before the academic year was due to start last year, a number of schools were forced to offer remote learning when reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) was found in buildings.
A one-off uplift to exam marks has not been granted to all pupils who had their education disrupted by the concrete crisis despite calls from schools and families affected.
Jill Duffy, chairwoman of the JCQ board of directors and chief executive of the OCR exam board, said: "With A-level grades similar to last year, Gen Z students and their teachers will see some much-needed continuity and stability after the disruptions of the pandemic.
"Whether going to university or into training or straight into a career, their qualifications help them move on to their next stage, and we wish them every success in the future."
In England, 7,380 students received their T-level results in the third year that the qualification has been awarded - and 88.7% achieved at least a pass.
Around 250,000 results were also issued to students who took level 3 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) this year.
Margaret Farragher, chief executive of the JCQ, said: "Huge congratulations to students on their achievements, spanning a range of vocational, technical and academic qualifications.
"While the pandemic is now behind us, we must acknowledge that this group of students faced disruption during their education and pay tribute to their resilience."
Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week.
Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) showed that 77.2% of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C - down from 78.8% last year.
For Highers, 74.9% passed with the top bands, down from 77.1% last year, and for Advanced Highers 75.3% of students achieved A to C grades, falling from 79.8% in 2023.
