Record number of teenagers will go to university this year despite fifth successive fall in students receiving highest A-Level grades
Results opened by nervous students this morning revealed 25% scored either an A* or A grade in their exams
A RECORD number of teenagers will go to university this year despite the fifth successive fall in students receiving the highest A-Level grades.
Results opened by nervous students this morning revealed a total of 25.8 per cent scored either an A* or A grade in their exams – down from 25.9 per cent in 2015.
But the overall pass rate – A* to E - was unchanged at 98.1 per cent among the 836,705 who sat the tests earlier this summer.
And university admission chiefs said a record of 424,000 students had been offered by their or second choice degree within hours of the results coming out.
The increase includes a rise of 11 per cent in EU students being placed at a UK uni.
Mary Curnock Cook, head of the body that manages university admissions said: “It’s 424,000 placed – the highest ever on A-Level results day. It’s up 3 per cent on last year.”
Eighteen year-olds from poorer backgrounds are 7 more likely to be placed than last year – but the figure is still far behind the most advantaged youngsters, officials admitted.
The results showed the gap between the cleverest boys and girls has narrowed for the first time in five years. Some 8.5 per cent of boys earned the A* grade – with girls on 7.7 per cent.
And they laid bare a huge shift in the subjects being studied by the nation’s brightest schoolchildren. More than 92,000 sat Maths – 11 per cent of the total – with the number of kids studying Further Maths DOUBLING in the past decade.
Psychology is now the fourth most popular subject, above History and Geography.
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Meanwhile the number taking modern languages sank to a new low – with just 9,672 sitting French.
Maths was dominated by boys with 20,000 more lads than girls taking the exam. But education chiefs said girls were “outperforming” the boys in economics.
Top 10 A-Levels sat by subject
1. Maths 92,163 (10.9%)
2. English 89,499 (10.1%)
3. Biology 63,275 (7.4%)
4. Psychology 57,014 (6.7%)
5. History 55,848 (6.6%)
6. Chemistry 52,644 (6.2%)
7. Art & Design 44,864 (5.3%)
8. Geography 37,195 (4.4%)
9. Physics 36,287 (4.3%)
10. Media/Film/TV Studies 28,467 (3.3%)
(All subjects 836,705, Source: JCQ)
The results sparked an outpouring of celebrations at schools nationwide.
But upset students were left to blame everything from the Brexit vote to blue ink and even the Eurovision song contest for their own disappointing grades.
One tweeted: “I blame the PM for resigning 10 minutes before my exam.”
The Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the results were “hugely encouraging”.
But Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner gave a “heartfelt thanks” to parents and teachers before slamming Ministers for the mess in the schools system.
She blasted: “Frustratingly young people and the teaching profession have had to do their best in a context of unmanaged, ill thought out Government reforms, with the goalposts for this year’s A-Level results being moved as late as the end of the school year.”
The CBI’s Pippa Morgan said: “Students up and down the country have demonstrated their talent and determination to secure good grades as a stepping stone to a career and their future.”