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

ITV News

2 days ago

Hundreds of thousands of pupils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to find out their exam results on Thursday.
Here is your guide to this summer's exam results:
– Who will receive their exam results ?
Schools and college leavers will receive their A-level and AS grades, as well as results for vocational technical qualifications (VTQs) at Level 3, on Thursday.
Students in England will also receive their results for T-levels – which were launched to provide high-quality technical alternatives to A-levels.
– What can students expect?
Last year, more than one in four (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 told the PA news agency.
Jo Saxton, chief executive of the university admissions service, said 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.
More than 22,500 courses with vacancies for undergraduate students living in England were available on the Ucas clearing site as of Wednesday afternoon, a PA analysis of 129 of the UK's largest higher education providers showed.
Eighteen of the 24 elite Russell Group universities had nearly 3,500 courses with vacancies for English residents on clearing the day before results day.
– 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.