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Welcome to the Guardian’s GCSE live blog as more than 700,000 teenagers, and their anxious parents, prepare for GCSE results this morning.
In England this is the second year where the grading system for most exams has switched to the numerical system with the top mark of 9, to the bottom mark of 1.
A grade 7 to 9 is approximately equivalent to A to A* under the old system, while a grade 4 and above is roughly equivalent to a C and above.
The content of the courses has also been made tougher, prompting teaching unions to warn that the changes have left many pupils feeling stressed with some even refusing to sit the exams. And this is the first year that students have sat reformed GCSEs in media studies, design and technology, and sociology.
The new system is designed to be more academically rigorous and to better differentiate the highest achievers. Under the old system increasing numbers of pupils were achieving A*s. With two more grades, the idea for the new format is that fewer pupils will achieve the top mark.
If last year is anything to go by, around one in five pupils are expected to score one of the three top grades this year, but only a tiny fraction of teenagers is likely to walk away with a clean sweep of 9s.
Figures published by exams regulator Ofqual, showed that just 732 16-year-olds in England taking at least seven new GCSEs last year, scored straight 9s in all subjects.
But Philip Nye, researcher at Education Datalab said the numbers getting straight grade 9s “might go up a little bit because there are more subjects in the 9-1 system, but it is very difficult to say what will happen.”
Pupils in Wales will still have exams graded on the A to G scale, but the content has also been reformed. In Northern Ireland there is a mix of both letter and numerical grades depending on the exam board.
Our data team will be crunching the numbers throughout the day. And after the results are released, at around 9.30am, we’ll be gauging all the agony of ecstasy of students.
Good luck.
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