Results at a glance
■ 29.9% achieved an A* or A for A-level, up 2.9 percentage points from 2019.
■ 22.2% achieved an A for AS, up 1.9 percentage points from last year.
■ 22.6% achieved an A* or A in the Advanced Skills Challenge, up 1.1. percentage points from last year.
■ 98.6% achieved A*-E at A-level compared with 97.6% in 2019.
■ 91.4% achieved A-E at AS-level compared with 90.0% in 2019.
Falling numbers of entries
■ Total number of A-level examination entries in Wales this year was 30,448, a 3.3% fall compared to 2019.
Gender gap
■ Boys continue to outperform females at grade A*, where they are 0.8 percentage points ahead.
■ At other grades girls continued to outperform boys, with 99.% of subject entries by girls this year gaining A*- E grades, compared to 98.2% of entries by males.
Trends in subject entries
■ There has been an overall reduction in entries for all subjects at A-level.
■ Entries were up for these subjects: biology (+44), computing (+37), further maths (+55), maths (+119) physics (+48), psychology (+128) and sociology (+22).
■ Maths remains the most popular A-level and AS subject with 3,704 and 5,144 entries respectively. Outcomes have remained relatively stable at both levels.
How A* grades have risen in Wales in a decade
2010 – 6.5% 2011 – 6.3% 2012 – 6% 2013 – 6% 2014 – 6.7% 2015 – 7.3% 2016 – 6.6% 2017 – 8.3% 2018 – 8.7% 2019 – 9.1% 2020 – 10.8%
How Centre Assessed Grades from schools and colleges were changed in “standardisation” A-level
■ 53.5% – no change
■ 36.7% – dropped one grade
■ 5.1% – dropped two grades
■ 0.5% – dropped three grades
■ A total 15 exams taken down four grades but this number is so small there was no percentage given
■ 4% – up one grade
■ 0.1% – up two grades
■ Total 30,315 exams graded
AS-level
■ 54.7% – no change
■ 32% – dropped one grade
■ 9.2% –dropped two grades
■ 1.7% – dropped three grades
■ 0.1% – dropped four grades
■ 2.3% – up one grade
■ 0.1% – up two grades (35 exams)
■ 44,855 AS exams graded.
The above A-level grades may go up following the Welsh Government’s lastminute announcement that no student will get an A-level grade less than an AS grade already achieved in that subject.
Students will also have the option whether or not this year’s AS will count towards their final A-level grade or have it awarded entirely on one final exam.