What can students expect from this summer's exam results?

South Wales Argus

6 days ago

Here is your guide to this summer's exam results:
– When are exam results this year?
A-level and AS results are out on August 14, while GCSE results will be released on August 21.
Pupils in England will receive results for T-levels – which were launched to provide high-quality technical alternatives to A-levels – on August 14.
Thousands of pupils will also receive results for vocational technical qualifications (VTQs) this month.
Results for VTQs at Level 3 taken alongside or instead of A-levels, such as BTecs, will be released to students on or before August 14.
Results for many Level 2 VTQs are expected on or before August 21.
– What can students expect?
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the PA news agency that she expects a 'pretty straightforward year' for students as things have 'returned to normal' since the pandemic.
Last year, 27.8% of UK A-level entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up from 27.2% in 2023.
It was the highest proportion of entries scoring top grades outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22.
In 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic – 25.4% of entries were awarded A or A* grades.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in top A-level and GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.
– How does the situation differ in the devolved nations?
In 2023, GCSEs and A-levels returned to pre-pandemic grading arrangements in England.
In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators returned to pre-pandemic grading last summer – a year later than in England.
Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week.
Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) showed that 78.4% of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C – up from 77.2% last year.
For Highers, 75.9% passed with the top bands, up from 74.9% last year, and for Advanced Highers 76.7% of students achieved A to C grades, up from 75.3% last year.
– Will it be tougher to get university places?
A record number of 18-year-olds are likely to be successful in securing their first choice of university this A-level results day even if they narrowly miss their grades, the head of Ucas has suggested.
Jo Saxton, chief executive of the university admissions service, told PA it was a 'good year to be a UK-domiciled 18-year-old' that wants to go to university.
She has suggested that British universities are keen to recruit UK school and college leavers because there is more 'uncertainty' around the international market and which overseas students are going to turn up.
Dr Saxton added that domestic undergraduates offered universities 'stability' for their 'financial planning'.
Nearly 22,700 courses with vacancies for undergraduate students living in England were available on the Ucas clearing site as of Wednesday last week – eight days before results day, a PA analysis showed.
A sample of 129 of the UK's largest higher education providers showed 17 of the 24 elite Russell Group universities had more than 3,600 courses with vacancies for English residents on clearing.
– What can students do if they do not get their first-choice university?
Clearing is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day, as well as those who did not receive any offers.
Students who have changed their mind about what or where they wish to study, and also those who have applied outside the normal application window, can also use the clearing process through Ucas.
Applicants will be able to add a clearing choice from 1pm on results day.
In England, if a student is unhappy with their grade they can ask their school or college to request that the exam board review the marking.
If there are still concerns, the student can ask their school or college to appeal against the result.
– Were pupils given extra support in exams due to Covid-19?
Exam aids have been given to GCSE pupils in England in mathematics, physics and combined science since 2022 to limit the impact of Covid-19 on learning.
In October last year, the Education Secretary asked England's exams regulator Ofqual to continue providing formulae and equation sheets to GCSE pupils in these subjects in 2025, 2026 and 2027.
Most pupils who took their GCSE exams this summer were in Year 6 when schools closed after the national lockdown in 2020.