A-level results: Boys beat girls at A* for the first time ever

- Boys edge ahead of girls by 0.1 per cent- Record drop in A and A* passes- Pass rate rises for 30th year- PE fastest declining subject
Places crisis: The shortfall of is now hitting secondary schools as well as primary schools
Anna Davis @_annadavis17 August 2012

The number of top marks awarded at A-level has dropped for the first time in 20 years after a government crackdown on “grade inflation”.

Thousands of students could now miss out on their preferred university place after the record fall in top grades.

Today’s results for 300,000 A-level students show 26.6 per cent of exams were given an A or A* grade, down from 27 per cent last year. Some 7.9 per cent of entries gained an elite A* grade compared with 8.2 per cent last year.

In a dramatic results year:

  • The number of boys scoring A* grades was higher than girls for the first time.
  • Despite the decline in top grades the overall pass rate of A* to E rose for the 30th year in a row to 98 per cent — an increase of 0.2 per cent on last year.
  • More students studied maths and science subjects amid demands from employers for more qualified graduates.
  • Foreign languages continued to decline, with significant drops in the numbers taking German and French.
  • Physical education was the third-fastest declining subject, down 12.7 per cent on last year.

The drop in top grades has raised fears that thousands of students will miss out on their first choice of university. The last time the proportion of A-level papers given an A dropped was in 1991, when 11.9 per cent of papers were awarded the grade compared with 12 per cent in 1990. This is the biggest fall since 1965. Admissions service Ucas said 357,915 students have so far been accepted for university this year, down seven per cent on last year.

The news comes amid continuing attempts by the exams regulator Ofqual to tackle grade inflation, and criticism by Education Secretary Michael Gove. The watchdog told exam boards they will be asked to justify results that differ widely from previous years.

Exam boards today insisted that the drop in top A-level grades was not down to increased pressure to stem grade inflation.

But Maureen Williams, headteacher at La Sainte Union in Highgate, said: “I can’t believe that with greater competition for the more select universities, the more able [students] haven’t been pushing themselves that bit extra this year. There is a clear direction to support the integrity of the grade standard of A-levels. I think students have worked even harder this year.”

New rules mean universities can for the first time admit unlimited numbers of students scoring AAB — and “near miss” students with lower grades face an agonising wait to find out if they have been accepted. Students have been flooding university helplines.

There were claims that as many as a third of students holding offers of places had fallen short of predicted grades for elite Russell Group universities.

Exeter University received 2,000 phone calls in one hour today from prospective students who thought they had missed out. University of East London took more than 700 in the first hour.

Speaking at the Ucas call centre in Cheltenham, universities minister David Willetts said he was not worried by the drop in the number of students who have been accepted so far.

He said: “We will have to see how things develop, but we’re optimistic that the system will work in the way that it will and that through clearing perhaps people that haven’t necessarily got their university first choice are still able to secure a place.”

Andrew Hall from exam board AQA claimed more students are opting to take A-levels rather than go into the work place, which means top grades have fallen.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the drop in top grades was a “minor fluctuation”: “The important point here is, if you look at the trend of improvements in schools, the numbers now succeeding at GCSE and accessing A-levels has been a success story of our education system.”

Ziggy Liaquat, managing director of exam board Edexcel, insisted there was a “very strong set of results”. He added that the fall in A-grades was “marginal,” saying: “The standard needed to reach an A-grade has not changed.”

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “I am encouraged that the number of students pursuing rigorous subjects such as maths and physics continues to rise.”

Although girls have continued to outperform boys for getting A grades, this year saw boys narrowly ahead of girls at achieving the highest A* grades.

Realistic results will help to restore public confidence

Commentary: Alan Smithers

Politicians have always welcomed A-level grade inflation because it appeared to say the education system was getting better.

But the pass rate has been increasing for so long that public confidence has been reduced — and it has made it difficult for universities to differentiate between outstanding candidates and those who are simply very good.

Now, finally, the new watchdog Ofqual has put standards under scrutiny. This is a good thing and we should welcome it.

Realistically, other things being equal, the overall pattern of results should be similar from year to year — sometimes up a little, sometimes down a little. Nothing can rise indefinitely. Today’s results still represent fantastic success. But they should also go some way to restoring public confidence in the system.

There are some other changes to be aware of this year. Universities are being allowed to admit as many students scoring AAB as they like.

Some like UCL and Bristol are taking more of these students. This means there will be fewer “AAB” students going to the mid-range institutions. This points to a greater emphasis on outstanding graduates.

I also find it fascinating that boys have pulled ahead in top grades —recently girls have tended to be well ahead. This seems to be down to the subjects they are choosing.

Overall in maths 17.4 per cent of the grades were given an A*. But of the boys who took it, 18 per cent got an A*, compared with 16.6 per cent of girls. Boys tend to take sciences and it is easier to award an A* in these subjects because it is easier to award higher marks and recognise outstanding performance.

A-level entries are generally down this year because there are fewer 18-year-olds, but maths and further maths have bucked the trend, rising quite sharply.

Alan Smithers is director of education and employment research, University of Buckingham

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