A-Level Exam Results Summary
August is an important month for students awaiting their GCSE and A-Level results. Last week, students across the country received their A-Level grades. The grades received on the 15th August determine whether students have gained a place at their university of choice.
Lowest Number Of Students Receive The Highest A Level Grade In 12 Years
On A-Level results day 2019, the 30,000 students who achieved the highest A-Level grades fell to its lowest point in 12 years. A-Level maths candidates needed to score just over 50% in order to pass, due to the difficulty of the exam.
The pass rate fell from last year, at 97.5%. This year, only 25.5% of students received an A grade or higher. This is down by 26.4% from last year, making it the lowest level since 2007 with 25.3%.
“Only 25.5% of students received an A grade or higher.”
According to the Joint Council for Qualifications, the number of girls taking three sciences has risen to 50.3%, overtaking boys. Despite this, 30,159 boys took Physics, compared with 8,799 girls.
Spanish has become the most popular language to study, overtaking French for the first time. 8,625 students studied Spanish at A-Level, compared with 8,355 taking French.
The number of students studying Politics has also risen to 19,729, up by 1,765. Students this year would have chosen their A-Levels in 2017, the year of President Trump’s election, as well as the UK’s Brexit referendum.
On the other hand, the English A-Level entries have fallen by 7.8%. English Literature is down from 44,200 to 40,824, and Language from 18,049 to 14,144.
The University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) stated that there has been a slight decline in the number of students accepted into their top university choices. This total has dropped by 1%, with 408,960 students securing a place. Consequently, the number of applicants going through clearing rose to 126,170 on Thursday morning. In 2018, over 60,000 students went through clearing, with UCAS predicting a rise to 70,000 this year.
A recent change in the A-Level syllabus saw final exams overtaking coursework. This was with the aim of differentiating between the highest achieving students.