Overview

The proportion of top A-level grades in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has fallen since 2021, but remains higher than in 2019. About 36.4% of A-levels were marked at A* and A this year,  compared to 44.8% of exams awarded A or above last year. This is the first time since 2019 that A-level exam results have been based on public exams, after two years of cancellation due to the Covid pandemic.

1. Competition is increasing among students who want to get into top universities.

Although, the university admissions service (ucas), said 65.3% of students in the UK who applied to university were offered their first choice and told that students don’t need to worry too much about the influence of lowering grades. 

But it is clear that the standards of the top universities did not change at all. For example, a student who wants to apply for medicine in University of Oxford still need to have A*AA in three A-levels. 

As the marking system wants to bring grades closer to pre-pandemic levels, this situation will last at least 2-3 years. For students who already need to prepare or are preparing for A-Levels, they should consider this factor. If you did a mock test and your grade is on the verge of an A, then try to make more effort to make sure you’ll achieve your goal finally.

2. Business studies is more popular than English literature.

The slow decline of English literature A-level continues. In 2017, when exams were first sat for the current course, there were 46,411 entries. In 2022 there were 35,791 – a fall of 23%.This year English literature not only dropped out of the top 10 most popular subjects, but it was also overtaken for the first time by business studies.

And we can see changes of the top 10 most popular A-level subjects. Psychology entries increased the most among the top 10 compared with last year, followed by Business Studies, and Sociology. If you are still confused which subject you want to choose and there’s no other requirement or guide, you may get inspiration from this.

3. The gap between state and private schools narrowed but is still significant.

According to England’s exam regulator, 58% of private school candidates in England were awarded A* and A grades, compared with 30.7% of state school pupils.

Fee-paying schools did particularly well last year when teachers’ assessments were the basis for A-level grades.

In 2021, some 70.4% of private school pupils were given A grade or above, compared with just 39.4% of state schools.

The most important reason for this gap is that private school candidates can receive remote teaching from school even when they’re at home. State school students can only learn by themselves. With the end of the epidemic, this inequity will ease. Still, state school pupils need to find other ways to chase up lessons they lost.

Conculsion

All in all, this is an exciting time, which means that the students’ academic life is getting back on track step by step. Best wishes to every student who put effort into their studies and congratulations on your results!