UK A-Level Results Surpass Pre-Pandemic Expectations

Today is A-level results day, with a surprising 28% of all grades being an A* or A. This defies expectations and marks the best set of grades in a non-pandemic year, ever since sharp rises during the pandemic when results were based on teachers’ assessments, with almost one in 10 A-levels being awarded an A* this year.

Sir Ian Bauckham, the head of exams regulator Ofqual, said this year’s students “had the benefit of GCSE results to guide their selections” for A-level subjects and that the new Government had no input in setting standards this year, and that “it’s likely that the most significant factor was the ability of the cohort.”

Benenden School Headmistress, Samantha Price said: “These are an exceptional set of results and every student should be incredibly proud of their achievements.’ As the school celebrates an outstanding 68 per cent of all grades being an A* or A – up 11 percentage points on last year and 93 per cent of grades being A*-B (versus 82 per cent last year), while the A* rate of 28 per cent represents a 10 percentage point increase on the 2023 statistics.

‘Our Six Two students have worked enormously hard over many years to be in this position today, and of course they have been wonderfully supported all the way by the superb and high calibre teachers we are fortunate to have here at Benenden. It is exceptionally pleasing to see these young people achieving the grades which act as a launchpad into the next stage of their exciting careers. They are now going to be pursuing their dreams across a wide range of courses throughout the world.” Benenden school

The results are expected to provide a much-needed financial boost for universities, who are hoping that more school leavers may have got better grades than expected and will consider studying higher education. In total, 62.4 per cent of 18 year-olds in the UK got into their first choice of university, according to Ucas – up from 58.8 per cent last year.