Russell Haggar
Site Owner
Examination Results 2019-2022
Click here for differences in examination results class race and gender
Click here for coronavirus and education
Click here for recent education policy
Click here for a very useful article from an LSE Blog: The Impact of COVID 19 on A Levels since 2020 and what it means for Higher Education in 2022/23 by Peter Finn, Radu Cinpoes. and Emily Hill [Kingston University]
Click here for Coronavirus: GCSEs, A Level, and equivalents in 2022 [research briefing from the House of Commons Library June 2022]
In this section I cover the overall trends in GCE and GCSE Examination Results 2018-2021. Social class, gender and ethnic differences in educational attainment are covered elsewhere on my site.
Percentages of Student Entries and GCE Advanced Level Grades Cumulative Percentages UK 2016-2022
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
| E or above | 98.1% | 97.9% | 97.6% | 97.6% | 99.7% | 99.5% | 98.4% |
| C or above | 77.6% | 77.4% | 77% | 75.8% | 87.9% | 88.5% | 82.6% |
| A or above | 25.8% | 26.3% | 26.4% | 25.5% | 38.6% | 44.8% | 36.2% |
| A* | 8.1% | 8.3% | 8.0% | 7.8% | 14.4% | 19.1% | 14.6% |
Click here and here for BBC 2019 A level results
In recent years until 2020 annual overall pass rates and grade distributions at both GCSE Level and GCE Advanced Level have been relatively stable because the overall pass rates and grade boundaries have been manipulated to achieve comparable outcomes: that is to try to ensure that “if the cohort of students taking a qualification in any one year is of similar ability to their predecessors, then overall results should be comparable.” Thus, the distribution of A level grades in any one year will be very closely related the distribution of GCSE results two years previously although the distribution of A level grades can be modified slightly if expert examination scrutinisers believe that this is justified. However, the overall effect of the comparable outcomes procedure is that year on year variations in GCSE and GCE Advanced Level results are likely to be small. This procedure has been adopted to remove the possibility of pass rate and grade inflation.
However due to COVID and the cancellation of examinations in 2020 and 2021 these procedures were not adopted and as a result higher level GCE Advanced Level and GCSE grades both increased substantially. {You may click here for an explanation of comparable outcomes from Schools Week 2015 and click here for a detailed OFQUAL publication from 2020 and here Schools Week coverage for an interesting dispute as to when Comparable Outcomes were first introduced]
It was initially decided that due to the cancellation of GCE Advanced Level and GCSE examinations, examination grades would be awarded on the basis of Centre Assessed Grades which would then be modified via an algorithm constructed by OFQUAL “based mainly of how teachers had ranked their pupils in order of ability and the results of schools and colleges in previous years. Of less importance would be teachers’ predictions and how the pupils themselves had done in previous exams “[BBC] . Click here for BBC item on GCE Advanced Level Examinations in 2020.
This procedure was designed to stop grade inflation which certainly would have occurred in Centre Assessed Grades had been accepted in their entirety but it also meant that talented students in schools and colleges which historically returned lower results would be placed at a serious disadvantage; Poorer students were disproportionately likely to attend historically poorly performing schools poorly and furthermore the standardisation process which tended to push down teachers grades would also not apply to subjects with smaller numbers of entries such as classics and modern languages- with accusations that this would benefit independent schools.
The examination results published on August 13th indicated that larger proportions of examination entries had been awarded A*, A and B grades in 2020 than in 2019 but also that 39.1% of grades were reduced below the grades which teachers had predicted as is indicated in the following infographic and although only approximately 4% of grades were reduced by 2 or 3 grades this still affected thousands of students nationwide.
Click here for Newsnight coverage of the initial GCE Advanced Level Grades 2020 and here for the aftermath. Click here for coverage by Sky News. Click here for Wikipedia coverage
Click here for a DfE Infographic and here for Schools week coverage which shows the grade distribution of results in England based upon moderated teachers, assessments published August 13th 2020.
9.0% of students would have been awarded A* Grades and 27.6% 0f students would have been awarded A*/A grades. On this basis the proportion of Grade A*/A grades awarded would have increased slightly by comparison with 2017-2019 but the effects of OFQUAL’S intervention was to significantly reduce the proportion of A*/A Grades by comparison with the proportion of A*/A Grades which would have been awarded if the Centre Assessed Grades had been accepted [ 37.7%]. No changes were made to 58.7% of the CAGS awarded but 39.1% of CAGs were downgraded of which 3.3% were downgraded by 2 grades and 0.2% were downgraded by 3 grades. Given that there were 718k entries, this meant that 1.400 entries were downgraded by 3 grades and approximately 23,700 entries were downgraded by 2 grades. In some cases, even a one grade reduction could deny a university place and so anger was understandable
The Scottish Authorities had already decided that they would award grades entirely based on teacher assessments and they were followed By Wales and Northern Ireland, but the UK government initially responded to the furore by announcing that English students would be able to appeal their results based on their mock examination results and/or be allowed to retake their examinations in the Autumn. However, it became apparent almost immediately that such proposals were impractical, and the government then decided that instead that students would be awarded their original centre assessed grades or their moderated grade whichever was the higher.
Consequently, the eventual GCE Advanced Level grades awarded in 2020 were significantly higher than in 2019. Thus, for UK students the proportion of GCE Advanced Level entries awarded A* and A grades was 25.5% in 2019 and 38.6% in 2020.
Click here for More or Less on GCE Advanced Level Examinations 2020.
It was subsequently agreed that their Centre Assessed Grades would be accepted in their entirety in 2021 and the proportion of UK GCE Advanced Level entries awarded Grades A* and A rose to 44.8% in 2021.
Click here for Changes in GCE Advanced Level Grades 2016-2021
GCE Advanced Level Results, State Schools, and Independent Schools 2019- 2021
It was noted that the application of the OFQUAL Algorithm to the 2020 appeared to operate to the advantage of Independent School Pupils but this was also the case when Centre Assessed Grades were reinstated in 2020 and in the 2021 GCE Advanced Level Examinations. However, it has then come to be argued that these statistics need to be interpreted with care.
Click here and scroll toward the end of this Guardian article
Click here for Ofqual Analysis of GCE Advanced Level and GCSE Results. Scroll to pages 13-16 for discussion of the State and Independent Sectors
Click here for Sutton Trust Comment on GCE Advanced Level results 2021
Click here for Sky TV coverage of GCE Advanced Level results 2021
Click here for a very detailed analysis of the 2021 GCE Advanced Level results by Mary Curnock Cook
Click here for Exam results 2020 at Eton College
GCSE Examinations
You may Click here and follow the GCSE link to access the full JCQ [Joint Council for Qualifications] tabulations data for 2021 and click here for diagrammatic presentations of these data from fft educationdatalab.
Percentages of Student Entries and GCSE Examination Grades Cumulative Percentages UK 2016-2021
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
| 1/G or above | 98.4 | 98.4 | 98.3 | 98.3 | 99.6 | 99.0 | 98.4 |
| 4/C or above | 66.9 | 66.3 | 66.9 | 67.3 | 76.3 | 77.1 | 73.2 |
| 7/A or above | 20.5 | 20.0 | 20.5 | 20.6 | 26.2 | 28.9 | 28.9 |
As with GCE Advanced Level results the pattern Of GCSE grades remained relatively stable between 2016 and 2019 but when the examinations were cancelled the percentages of passes at grades 4/C and above rose significantly
Click Here for fft educationdatalab coverage of differences in GCSE results between State and Independent Schools
Click here for announcement that cancelled 2021 GCSE and A Level examinations will be replaced by teachers grades and here for further information on how teachers decided results and here for results in GCE Advanced Level and GCSE examinations s in 2020 and 2021
You may Click here and follow the A Level link to access the full JCQ [Joint Council for Qualifications] tabulations of GCE Advanced Level data for 2021 and click here for diagrammatic presentations of these data from fft educationdatalab.
You may Click here and follow the GCSE Level link to access the full JCQ [Joint Council for Qualifications] tabulations of GCSE data for 2021 and click here for diagrammatic presentations of these data from fft educationdatalab.
You may click here and follow the A Level link to access the full JCQ [Joint Council for Qualifications] tabulations of GCE Advanced Level data for 2022
You may Click here and follow the GCSE Level link to access the full JCQ [Joint Council for Qualifications] tabulations of GCSE data for 2021 and click here for diagrammatic presentations of these data from fft educationdatalab.
The GCE Advanced Level Results of 2022
In 2022 both GCSE and GCE Advanced Level examinations were assessed by examinations modified to make allowances for disruptions to students’ education between 2019 and 2022 and grade boundaries were calculated to ensure that overall results would be approximately halfway between the 2019 examination results and the 2021 Centre Assessed Grades of 2021. This item from February 2022 explains some of the modifications made to the 2022 GCSE and GCE Advanced Level examinations
Click here and then on Other Results Information and then on A and AS Results Summer 2022 for full GCE Advanced Level Results 2022 from the Joint Council for Qualifications. GCE Trends 2022 show the long term trends in subject popularity, and you can also find gender and regional differences in subject choice.
Click here for fft educationdatalab presentation of GCE Advanced Level results 2022
Click here and here for some detailed analysis of GCE Advanced Level Results in England 2019-2022 from fft education datalab
Click here for Guardian coverage which includes some data on decline in higher grades, the North- South divide, gender, state and independent schools and subject popularity
Click here for Guardian coverage of the changing distribution of grades
Click here for the Guardian GCE A Level Results Charts
Click here for GCE Advanced Level full data and charts from JCQ
Click here for Guardian discussion with Lee Elliot Major
Click here for Guardian article on GCE A Level results and inequality
Click here for similar coverage from the BBC
Click here for BBC charts
Click here for BBC coverage of T level results
Click here for delay over BTec results and OCR Cambridge Technical tests [Northern Ireland]
Click here for an earlier [May 11th 2022] article on controversies surrounding BTec courses
The GCSE Results 2022
Click here to access the full JCQ [Joint Council for Qualifications] tabulations of GCSE data for 2021 and 2022. Click here and then on GCSE 2022 and then on other results information and scroll down for entry level trends and additional charts [including gender differences in subject choice.
Click here and Click here for coverage of GCSE results 2022 from fft educationdatalab
Click here for fft educationdatalab coverage of MFL and EBacc entries
Click here for fft educationdatalab coverage of Key stage 4 results and pupil disadvantage
Click here for BBC on GCSE grade determination
Click here for BBC coverage [basic results]
Click here for BBC coverage [regional differences, gender gap, state and private education]
Click here for Guardian coverage [including detailed data on Private Schools]