A-Level students across the country have been collecting their results this morning in another unusual year where exams were cancelled.
With exams not going ahead due to the disruption of the pandemic on young people’s education, grades have instead been determined by teachers. Students should only have been assessed on what they had been taught and should have been assessed on multiple pieces of work. A quality assurance process has meant that one in five schools have had a sample of their grades checked by exam boards.
44.8% of A-Level students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have received A* or A grades this year – a record high level. The proportion getting top grades has risen by almost 75% since the last set of conventional exams took place in 2019 – though the difference in the systems used over the last two years makes comparisons difficult.
A record 396,000 students have been confirmed to their first choice university course, UCAS said on Tuesday morning.
As well as the release of A-Level results, more than 200,000 students have been getting vocational BTEC results.
Speaking ahead of the release of exam results, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson thanked teachers and parents for supporting young people and said;
“Students have worked very hard in what has been an extraordinary and challenging year, and each and every one of them should feel incredibly proud of their achievements. We should all celebrate their resilience and ability to overcome adversity.”
“Teachers and staff have ensured that, despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, all students are able to get grades this year and so can take their next steps and make their choices about further study or entering the workplace.”
The smooth release of results this year comes after last year’s release of exam results proved chaotic and devastating for some students, with a controversial algorithm temporarily lowering the grades of many students before a government u-turn.
