Dip in pass rates after biggest test changes in generation

GCSE PASS rates have dipped this year amid the biggest shake-up of exams in a generation, which has seen pupils sit tougher exams and the traditional A* to G grades ditched in key subjects.

The blizzard of changes has seen a new 9 to 1 system introduced for English and maths, with other subjects set to follow over the next two years.

The overall pass rate – those achieving grade C or a 4 and above – was 66.1 per cent, down by 0.4 percentage points on last year. In Yorkshire the overall pass rate was 63.2 per cent, down 0.3 per cent on 2016.

Those achieving the highest grades of an A or 7 and above stood at 19.8 per cent nationally, which was down by 0.4 per cent on the previous year. In Yorkshire 16.8 per cent were awarded the top grades, which was down by 0.2 per cent.

Around 50,000 English and maths GCSEs were awarded the new highest grade, with just over 2,000 teenagers scoring a clean sweep, gaining 9s in English, English literature and maths.

Students needed just under a fifth of marks in this year’s higher-level maths GCSE to achieve a grade 4, considered a standard pass, figures show. Getting just over half the marks gave candidates a new grade 7 – equivalent to an A – while those scoring at least 79 per cent were awarded a 9 – the highest result under England’s new 9-1 grading system.

Exams regulator Ofqual pointed out that the higher-tier maths paper covers a wide grade range and that grade boundaries reflect “an appropriate standard of performance”.