MAKING THE GRADE
MARION McMULLEN SWOTS UP ON THIS LATEST AND UNIQUE SET OF A-LEVEL RESULTS
1 The proportion of candidates receiving top grades is the highest on record after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row because of Covid-19. Hundreds of thousands of students were given grades by teachers rather than exams.
2 A total of 44.8% of entrants were awarded either an A or A* ... up a whopping 38.5% from last year. Nearly one in five entrants received an A* and the overall pass rate in all grades was 99.5%. Prime Minister Boris Johnson lauded students receiving A-level results after an “extremely challenging” year.
3 Teens from inner city state school Brampton Manor in London outperformed Eton in meeting Oxbridge targets. 55 pupils got the A-level grades they needed to study at Oxbridge or Cambridge. Many are from ethnic minority backgrounds, in receipt of free school meals.
4 Many students across the country have a head for figures. The most popular subject this year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was maths with more than 97,690 entrants taking the A-level exam – up 3.6% on 2020.
5 Psychology remained the second most popular subject – it was taken by 71,235 entrants – while biology was once again the third most popular, taken by 70,055 entrants, a rise of 7.6%.
6 Chinese saw the biggest percentage drop in the number of candidates for a single subject with more than 1,000 entrants, falling by a whopping 18.9% from 1,617 to 1,312.
7 Girls have extended their lead over boys in the top grades. The proportion of girls who got A or higher was 46.9% – 4.8 percentage points higher than boys (42.1%).
8 The proportion of A grades given to Scottish school pupils has also increased by an average of 16.7% since a new model was brought in as a result of the pandemic. Last year the use of an ill-fated algorithm led to angry protests from pupils.
9 Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has claimed that he cannot remember the results of his own A-levels. He said he received his results 27 years ago, but his memory fails him as to the grades. However, he also acknowledged that he did not get top marks.
10 And for those who did not get the results they wanted, Jeremy Clarkson put out one of his annual exam messages on Twitter saying: “If the teachers did not give you the A level results you were hoping for, don’t worry. I got a C and 2Us and I’ve ended up happy, with loads of friends and a Bentley.”