A Level Pass Rate Drops For First Time In Thirty Years

A Level Pass Rate Drops For First Time In Thirty Years: According to figures released today – A-Level results day in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – the A-level pass rate has fallen for the first time in more than 30 years, with a slight fall in A* and A grades also being recorded.

A Level Pass Rate Drops For First Time In Thirty Years

A Level Pass Rate Drops For First Time In Thirty Years

However, there appears to be a record number of places at university up for grabs, and it is anticipated that students will still be able to secure a place at university even if they missed their grade offers. Many students will need to go through the Clearing Process – a system whereby students can look to get on to university courses for which they did not originally apply. Students can apply to any university and for any course – they are not obliged to apply only for the courses which they originally applied for (although the A-level subjects they completed may have a bearing on whether or not they have the requisite knowledge for the course in question).

A* and A grades at A-level have fallen for the third year in a row, making up 26% of this years awarded grades, compared to 26.3% last year. There have also been falls in the number of students achieving A* to B (52.9% to 52.4%) and in those achieving A* to E (98.1% to 98%).

Despite this, universities are offering more than 30,000 additional places compared to previous years, and it is suggested that this could be the first time more than half a million places at university are offered to students for autumn courses. At the time of writing, Ucas admissions has stated that 396,990 students have been accepted on to degree places – a rise of 3% compared to this point in time last year.

The Joint Council for Qualifications has identified a trend for more students to be taking up places in courses, such as maths and physics, which are known as facilitating subjects. These types of facilitating subjects can be helpful for university applications due to the consideration that they are more difficult A-levels than some others on offer.

However, there have also been large falls in the number of students taking up subjects outside this group – including a fall of 24% in those taking an A-level in general studies.

Finally, this is also the first year in which A-level grades from a Free School (The London Academy of Excellence) will be included.

We welcome comments from all our readers - so please feel free to express your views in the space below. You can also sign up to receive posts directly to your inbox, free of charge. Additionally, education professionals may be interested in joining our community.

In addition, please feel free to follow The VoicED Community on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.