Number of top A-level grades falls sharply as north-south divide grows

The number of top grades at A-level has fallen sharply this year following a return to examinations, with warnings about large regional variations and a “stark” divide between the state sector and private schools, where pupils were almost twice as likely to get an A or A*.

Results awarded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland revealed top grades down by 8.4 percentage points on last year’s record results, while A*s alone decreased by 4.5 points, in line with government plans to bring results gradually back to pre-pandemic levels.

The attainment gap between the more affluent London and south-east regions and the north-east is growing, however. While the gap between the south and the north-east was between 4 and 5 percentage points in 2019, it now stands at more than 8 percentage points.

“Students in the north-east are no less capable but after 12 years of Conservative governments they’re seeing their results go backwards compared to their peers across the south of England,” said the shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson.

In England just under 36% of A-level entries gained A and A* grades this year, compared with 44.3% last year. The number of high-flyers who got three A*s at A-level has also gone down, from 12,865 last year to 8,570.

England’s exam regulator, Ofqual, has urged students not to compare their results with 2021 when grades were awarded based on teacher assessments, insisting that a comparison with 2019 when exams were last sat is more appropriate.

On that measure results overall are higher than pre-pandemic levels, with the proportion of As and A*s up from 25.4% in 2019 to 36.4%, and in the three years since exams were last sat the share of A*s has gone up by almost seven percentage points, from 7.7% to 14.6%.

Meanwhile more than 20,300 students who applied to university are without a place, after the number accepted on to UK degree courses fell by 2%, according to figures published by the universities admissions service Ucas.

A total of 425,830 people have had places confirmed so far, the second highest on record, up 16,870 compared with 2019, when exams were last held, but many students will be disappointed, having been caught out in what has been a much more competitive admissions cycle, amid uncertainty about grades with the reintroduction of exams.

The Ucas chief executive, Clare Marchant, said: “While many will be celebrating today, there will be some who are disappointed. My advice is to take advantage of the wide range of choices on offer, which includes over 27,000 courses in clearing, along with a range of apprenticeship opportunities.”

University admissions teams reported high levels of interest in clearing, a process that matches unplaced students with unfilled courses.

Ella Kirkbride, the head of admissions at the University of Hull, said: “As predicted, it’s been a very busy clearing so far. From early this morning, we have seen a significant increase in calls compared to the past two years, with clearing enquiries up this morning by 286% on last year.”

Many of those students had received better results than expected. “They are relieved that they have not been faced with the kind of disappointing results that they were really concerned about as a result of all the speculation and uncertainty. In fact they have achieved Bs and Cs – and are very well prepared to go through the clearing process,” she said.

Some students complained about unpredictability in results. Will, 18, who attended a state grammar in Bradford, achieved grades AAB and missed out on his firm offer at Newcastle but was accepted at Royal Holloway, University of London, to study psychology.

“Many friends who had excelled throughout the whole two years and who had revised a massive amount to account for poor Covid teaching ended up dropping three to four grades from what they were predicted or what they achieved in mock exams,” he said.

Dr Jo Saxton, the chief regulator of Ofqual, said this year’s results were pitched broadly midway between 2021 and 2019 and marked a staging post on the return to pre-pandemic grade levels next summer.

“The class of 2022 can be so proud of what they have achieved. Today’s results are higher than those of 2019, and – as we have always said – lower than in 2021, when there was a different method of assessment.

“I felt strongly that it would not have been right to go straight back to pre-pandemic grading in one go but accept that we do need to continue to take steps back to normality.”

Compared with last year, however, male and female students are entitled to feel disappointed, with top grades dropping significantly. Female students fared worse in grade deflation, though still outperform their male counterparts. Whereas 44.3% of English students achieved an A grade in 2021, that fell back to 35.9% this year, an 8.4 percentage point drop. But female students’ grades fell more, down 9.5 percentage points compared with seven points among males.

There was support on social media from celebrities such as Richard Branson, who tweeted: “Thinking of everyone receiving their A-levels results today. Remember that your grades don’t define you, or what you can do in life. I dropped out of school, partly because I was struggling with dyslexia, but later realised it was my biggest strengths.”

Brampton Manor academy in Newham, east London, which has a highly selective, high-performing sixth form and is a regular on social media during result days, said 185 students had achieved either three or four straight A* grades.

Teacher-assessed grades, which replaced exams across the UK last year, resulted in a huge boost in grades across the board, but disproportionately benefited those at independent schools, where the proportion of top grades rose nine percentage points to 70%, compared with six percentage points overall.

This year they continued to have the highest proportion of top grades with 58% achieving an A* or A – 12.4 percentage points lower than in 2021 but still above pre-pandemic levels, and the gap between secondary comprehensives and private, fee-paying schools remains large.

There was a 27-percentage point difference in students graded A or above between independent schools and secondary comprehensives this year, slightly smaller than in 2021, when the difference between both schools reached 31 percentage points.

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) said the overall pass rate – the proportion of entries graded A* to E – fell by 1.1 percentage points from 99.5% in 2021 to 98.4% this year. But this is up by 0.8 points from 97.6% in the pre-pandemic year of 2019. The proportion of entries graded A* to C dropped from 88.5% in 2021 to 82.6% this year, though it is up from 75.9% in 2019.

Maths remains the most popular A-level and the number of students taking psychology and business studies jumped by more than 10% this year. English entries continue to plummet, however. Just 53,323 students took one of the three English subjects available to them (English language, English literature or the combined English language and literature A-levels), down from 75,000 in 2017.

This year’s drop in grades was anticipated after the government outlined plans to rein in the grade inflation that accumulated over the past two years, favouring a gradual approach to pre-pandemic grade levels. A number of adaptations were made to exams to recognise the disruption students have faced, including advance information on some content.

In Scotland, results published last week showed a similar pattern as pass rates for Scottish pupils fell significantly with the return of exams for the first time since 2019. The overall pass rate for Highers, heavily used for students aiming for university, fell from 89.3% in 2020 to 78.9%.

As well as A-levels, approximately 200,000 students received BTec results. This year has also been a landmark year with 1,000 students receiving results for the first time for the new T-level technical qualifications, for which they began studying in September 2020.

Kath Thomas, the interim chief executive officer of the JCQ, said: “Congratulations to all the students receiving their results today. Not only is it the culmination of two years of hard work, but these students are the first to have taken formal summer exams in three years, so we should all celebrate this achievement.

“As intended, these results are higher than the last set of summer exams in 2019, but lower than last year’s teacher-assessed grades. This reflects the special arrangements that were put in place to support students, schools and colleges through another challenging year due to Covid.”