Six in 10 candidates achieved the gold standard A* to C grades in GCSEs sat in November in Wales, results out from exam board WJEC show.
One in five candidates got the very top A* grade in maths GCSE and 61% achieved A* to C across the board.
As debate continues over whether it’s fair for this summer’s exams to go ahead results for November’s GCSEs were published on January 13.
Read more: Pupils sitting GCSE and A-level exams in Wales will be awarded fewer top grades
They show a continued upward trend following two years of assessed grades for cancelled summer exams.
More than 12,400 pupils sat maths, maths numeracy, Welsh and English language GCSEs in November with an overall 83.2% pass rate at A* to E and 61% ar A* to C.
The results are not directly comparable with last summer’s record GCSE grades as far fewer pupils took them and did do as early entry or re-sits, but they are an indication.
Candidates sat the autumn series as re-sits or early entry during ongoing disruption caused by the pandemic amid continued self isolation and remote learning for schools.
Girls did slightly better than boys overall and the best results were in maths.
A total 6.6% of the 1,520 candidates sitting English language got the top A* grade. Only 449 sat Welsh language with 4.4% achieving an A*.
The Welsh Government has said the intention is for exams to run this summer but some headteachers and parents have called for them to be cancelled and replaced with assessed grades for a third year. Teaching unions have warned exams must be fair, if they do go ahead, pointing to wide variations in Covid disruption between schools and individuals.
Results for 2020 and 2021 summer exams were awarded on teacher assessed Grades (based on previous work, exams and teacher assessments) after a row over a standardising algorithm saw results for thousands of papers downgraded in 2020.
November GCSE results
Maths
A* 20.4%
A 8.1*
B 15.8%
C16.8%
D 12%
Maths Numeracy
A* 12,3%
A 8.2%
B 20.2%
C 19.9%
D 12.8%
Welsh language
A* 4.4%
A 16%
B 31.7%
C 24.3%
D 12.6%
English language
A* 6.6%
A 12.5%
B 17.3%
C 20.7%
D 18%
The highest number of candidates were for maths numeracy sat by 5,500 pupils, followed by 4,912 taking maths, 1,520 English language and 499 Welsh language.
Differences between girls and boys
English language
Boys
A* 3.6%
A*-A 12.7%
A*-C 50.5%
Girls
A* 10.7%
A*-A 28.1%
A*-C 66.2%
Welsh language
Boys
A* 2.7%
A*-A 14.6%
A*-C 67.6%
Girls
A* 5.7%
A*-A 25%
A*-C 83.2%
Maths
Boys
A* 19.3%
A*-A 26.8%
A*-C 60.7%
Girls
A* 21.6%
A*-A 30.3%
A*-C 61.5%
Maths numeracy
Boys
A* 12.8%
A*-A 20.7%
A*-C61.7%
Girls
A* 11.7%
A*-A 20.3%
A*-C59.3%
Cumulative percentage of grades for all subjects combined
A* 14.5%
A 23.5%
B 42%
C 61%
D 74.1%
E 83.2%
F 88.4%
G92.8%
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