Education

Exam results trends

A summary of the 2014 GCSE, AS and A-level results.

 

GCSE

The Department of Education’s most recent headline results for state examinations cover 2014. The number of students who took GCSE exams in that year was 172,692. This number has decreased by 12,056 since 2009. The 2014 entries were also down by 3,608 on the number of pupils who were entered for exams in 2013.

 

The number of pupils achieving top grades has risen. In 2014, those receiving A*-A grades made up 28.2 per cent of total GCSE entries. This number is up from the 27.1 per cent of pupils who achieved A*-A grades in 2009. Those in the A* category comprised 8.9 per cent, up from 8.7 per cent last year. This number has largely remained consistent since 2009. Most students (95.3 per cent) gained A*-E grades.

 

Students achieving grades A*-C made up 78 per cent of the total. Thus, 22 per cent of pupils who sat their GCSE exams achieved grades below C. This figure has fallen from last year and is similar to 2009 levels. Of the girls sitting the 2014 exams, 33.1 per cent achieved A*-A grades in comparison to 23.1 per cent of boys. There has been a slow increase in girls getting top grades since 2009 from 30.5 per cent, while the number of boys being awarded the grade has fluctuated slightly since its high of 23.6 per cent in 2009.

 

AS-level

There were 45,751 pupils entered to sit AS-level exams. This number has steadily grown from 42,095 entries in 2009. In 2013, 43,472 pupils sat their AS-levels. However, 11,872 of these pupils did not go on to sit their A levels in 2014. Pupils who received an A grade totalled 27.3 per cent, this figure has fallen by seven per cent over the past five years. Three quarters (75.3 per cent) of AS-level students were awarded grades A-C. This figure has fallen from 78.2 per cent in 2009. A total of 94.5 per cent of pupils achieved grades A-E.

 

A-level

There were 31,600 A-level exam entries. Pupils gaining A*-A grades made up 29.9 per cent of results. This has dropped from 35.7 per cent in 2010, the first year the A* grade was awarded. The number of pupils awarded the A* grade was 7.3 per cent. Those achieving grades A*-C comprised 83.7 per cent, up slightly on last year’s 83.5 per cent but still lower than the 84.5 per cent recorded in 2012. The total percentage of pupils who achieved A*-E grades was 98.1 per cent.

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