A grades on the rise in massive exams shake-up

BOYS just outperformed girls in this year’s A-level exams as thousands of teenagers found out their grades yesterday.

Students were awarded the highest proportion of As and A*s since 2012, after a redesign of the exams.

The top two grades were awarded to 26.4 per cent of UK entries. Split by gender the figures were 26.6 per cent for boys and 26.2 per cent for girls.

The overall pass rate fell slightly to 96.7 per cent.

It was also revealed fewer students have been accepted into universities this year.

The latest figures come in the wake of a major exams overhaul, with 24 A-level subjects now reformed as part of sweeping changes.

Grades were also awarded for the first time this summer for several new-look A-levels – in languages, geography, dance, drama and theatre, music, PE and religious studies.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said the redesign of A-levels would make them “more appropriate and better at preparing young people for moving on to the next stage”.

Challenging

He said: “Having exams at the end of two years means it is possible to consider the subject as a whole.

“We can bring in all the different parts of it, to synthesise the different aspects of the subject in a way that is a little closer to undergraduate study.”

It is the second year in a row the A*-A pass rate has risen.

One in 12 entries scored an A* grade this year, down 0.3 percentage points on last year, according to statistics published by the Joint Council for Qualifications. This is the lowest it has been since 2013.

The overall A*-E pass rate has also fallen 0.3 percentage points to 97.6 per cent, the lowest level since 2010.

For the second year running boys continued to outperform girls at the highest grades, the figures showed.

Michael Turner, Joint Council for Qualifications director general, played down any talk of exams getting too easy.

He said: “Students and teachers should be congratulated. They can be confident in their grades, knowing they have been achieved in a world-class system that is robust, challenging and fair.”

Yesterday’s results also showed that Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects were continuing to rise in popularity.

More than a third (36.2 per cent) of all A-level entries were in these subjects, up from 34.5 per cent last year, and 28 per cent in 2009.

Boys were still more likely to study a Stem subject than girls, but the balance is shifting, the JCQ said. More girls take biology and chemistry than boys, while more boys take maths and physics.

But the data also showed girls were closing in on boys in this area, with a 3.1 per cent increase in maths entries from female students (boys’ entries have risen 2.1 per cent) and a 6.9 per cent rise in physics (2.4 per cent for boys).

Maths is still the most popular A-level with 2,383 more entries this year than last year.

There were more entries for A-level Chinese this year than for A-level German.

There were 3,334 entries for Chinese, up 8.6 per cent on last year. Some 3,058 students took German, down 16.5 per cent.

Suzanne O’Farrell, from the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We’re seeing German moving into extinction. It is in severe decline.”

French remains the most popular language with 8,713 entries, down eight per cent.