A-level top grades have risen again to reach a record high outside of the Covid years, while a record number of students have been accepted onto UK degree courses.
Hundreds of thousands of pupils across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland discovered their exam results on Thursday morning, with many finding out if they would progress to university, an apprenticeship or work.
More than a quarter (28.3 per cent) of UK entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up by 0.5 percentage points on last year when 27.8 per cent achieved the top grades. This was higher than in 2019, the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic, when 25.4 per cent of entries were awarded A or A* grades – and marks the highest proportion of entries scoring top grades outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22, according to the figures from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, new Ucas figures show that, for 18-year-olds in the UK, 255,130 applicants have been accepted onto a university or college course – up 4.7 per cent on last year. Overall, 82 per cent of UK 18-year-old applicants awaiting a decision on results day secured their first choice – which was the same proportion as last year.
The proportion of UK entries awarded the top A* grade this year has also risen, by 0.1 percentage points to 9.4 per cent, and it is higher than when it stood at 7.7 per cent in 2019.
However, the gap between the proportion of A-level entries in London awarded the highest grades and those in northeast England now stands at 9.2 percentage points, up from 7.4 points last year – and the largest since the present system of grading began in 2010, according to analysis.
Boys have outperformed girls in terms of top grades for the first time in seven years. Overall, 28.4 per cent of boys’ A-level entries scored an A* or A this summer, compared to 28.2 per cent of their female classmates’ entries.
The overall pass rate – the proportion of entries graded A* to E – has also risen to 97.5 per cent this year, which is up on last year (97.2 per cent) and the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (97.6 per cent).
Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator of Ofqual, England’s exams regulator, said the standard of work required to achieve grades has “held constant” since 2023, attributing any changes to a “smaller, smarter cohort” of students who sat their A-level exams this year compared to previous years.
In England, 11,909 students received their T-level results in the fourth year that the qualification has been awarded, and 91.4 per cent achieved at least a pass.
The number of T-level entries has increased by 61.4 per cent on last year, while the number of A-level entries has fallen by 0.5 per cent compared to 2024.
More than 250,000 Level 3 VTQ results have also been awarded to UK students by the JCQ this year.
Students who are receiving their A-level, T-level and level 3 vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) results were in year 8 when schools closed because of the pandemic.
Ucas chief Dr Jo Saxton highlighted how this year’s students were just 13 when the Covid pandemic hit, turning their secondary schooling “upside down”. She said: “It’s great to see these applicants securing a university place in record numbers, seeking more education and investing in their futures.”
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson described exam results day as “a time for celebration” for young people across the country as she told BBC Breakfast there has been a “steadying of the ship” after the disruption from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Covid pandemic led to an increase in top grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.
This year’s cohort of school and college leavers received their GCSE results in 2023, the first year that grading was returned to pre-pandemic levels in England. In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators returned to pre-pandemic grading in 2024, a year later than in England.
Education leaders have warned of “stark” divides in results between different regions because of the legacy of Covid and socio-economic factors.
Calling for “more attention” to be paid to the issue, Jill Duffy, chair of the JCQ board of directors and chief executive of the OCR exam board, warned: “Regional inequalities are getting worse, not better.”
On the increase in top A-level grades, Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “This is testament to the hard work of teachers and students in often very challenging circumstances.
“However, we continue to see big differences in attainment between regions, reflecting socioeconomic factors which represent a massive challenge, not only for the education sector but our society as a whole. We have to stop merely talking about these issues and actually address them with investment in communities suffering from generational disadvantage.”
Ms Phillipson has vowed to tackle the “yawning inequalities” in educational attainment.
She also told ITV’s Good Morning Britain the government would give “a much greater priority” to children and education in the event of another pandemic.
Speaking to Sky News, she added: “My message to young people is that if you’ve got what you’ve needed to move on to the next step in your journey, that’s fantastic.
“But if you haven’t, there’s lots of support and advice that’s available, either from your school or college, but also through Ucas, if you’re considering going to university through clearing, and also the National Career Service, because there are lots of fantastic routes that are out there, whether that’s apprenticeships, university or much more besides.”
Scotland has a different qualification system, and students received their results on Tuesday last week. Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority showed 78.4 per cent of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C – up from 77.2 per cent last year. For highers, 75.9 per cent passed with the top bands, up from 74.9 per cent last year, and for advanced highers 76.7 per cent of students achieved A to C grades, up from 75.3 per cent last year.
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