Russell Haggar
Site Owner
Examinations 2024
Gender and the GCE Advanced Level Examinations and GCSE Examinations of 2024
This page also includes more general information on the 2024 GCE Advanced Level and GCSE examinations .Information on Gender, Subject Entries and Examination results at GCE and GCSE levels in 2024 is asterisked.
Overall GCE Advanced Level Results 2024
Click here for full A Level data on subject entries and results from the Joint Council for Qualifications [JCQ]
Click here for Guardian A Levels
2024 GCE Advanced Level results data for England indicate that the proportion of students receiving A* grades increased since 2023 and indeed reached its highest level since 2010 excluding the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 and its immediate aftermath in 2022. Click here for some details from the Guardian. Click here for a BBC item which also includes some summary details on Wales and Northern Ireland and Click here for further details from Ofqual Analytics
Gender and GCE Advanced Level Results***
You may click here for gender differences in A Level grades from 2010-2024.
JCQ Data for the UK indicate that a larger proportion of male entrants than of female entrants gained A* pass grades although female entrants were more likely than male students to gain A* and A grades combined.
However, in this extract from my website I wrote a few years ago that :
“There are always considerable controversies around the publication of A level statistics. For example, when in recent years [[2016-2019] Male students have achieved a higher proportion of A* Grades than Female students it has been suggested that this could be explained partly by the fact that Males were likely to outperform Females in a small number of subjects [e.g. Mathematics] where examination entries and proportions of A/A* grades awarded were particularly high and that females nevertheless continue to out -perform males in many individual subjects.] Click here for an item on A Levels from the BBC's More or Less
It is also pointed out that total female A Level entries are far greater than total male A level entries so that even where a larger percentage of male than female subject entries are awarded A* grades the number of male and female A*grade awards is very similar. Click here for an article from The Conversation
Recent data indicate that in GCE Advanced Level Examinations males’ results did improve relative to females’ results once coursework was excluded from assessments. Male A* rates were consistently higher than female A* rates 2016-2019 but in terms of A* /A grades the gender gap fluctuated. However, it should be noted that the relative changes in males’ and females’ results following the ending of coursework were small as is indicated in the above table.
In the years of CAGS [2020 and 2021] females outperformed males at A* and A*/A grades, but the female lead declined once examinations were reintroduced in 2022. You may click here for more detailed information on GCE Advanced Level Results 2019-2022”
These points should be borne in mind when we analyse the 2024 data.
State Schools , Independent Schools and GCE Advanced Level Results
Independent School students on average achieve higher GCE Advanced Level Grades than State School students Click here for some details from the Guardian and here for further more detailed information on results in different types of State School from Ofqual Analytics . Click here for some further information on Independent Schools.
Regional Trends in Examination Results
Click here for Worrying Regional Disparities [Guardian]
Click here and scroll down for England’s North South Divide Persists [BBC]
Information on interconnections between Gender, ethnicity , free school meal eligibility and educational achievement will be published by the DfE in the Autumn of 2024
Trends in GCE Advanced Level Subject Choice and Gender Differences in Subject Choice
Click here for full A Level data on subject entries and results from the Joint Council for Qualifications [JCQ]
Table 1 and Figure 1 of this JCQ document indicate that Mathematics, Psychology, Biology and Chemistry have consistently been the 4 most popular subjects and that History , Business Studies and Sociology have fluctuated between positions 5, 6, and 7 while Art and Design, Physics and Economics have fluctuated between positions 8, 9 and 10.
It is notable that between 2023 and 2024 the biggest percentage increases in entries were for Further Mathematics, Physics , Computing and Mathematics and that the biggest declines in entries were for Sociology, Drama and Geography.
The Guardian present JCQ data in this article for the yeas 2017-2024 showing changes in the relative popularity of the main A Level Subjects. The article also shows that between 2012 and 2024 in the aggregate Stem subjects and Social Science subjects have become more popular while the popularity of the Humanities has declined significantly, and the popularity of Arts subjects has declined slightly.
It is also recognised that although the popularity of the Social Sciences has increased in the long term their popularity did fall between 2023 and 2024 due mainly to the fall in popularity of Sociology and Economics although both Sociology and Economics had become increasingly popular prior to 2023-2024.
Gender Differences in GCE Advanced Level Subject Choice 2024, 2023 and 2014***
Click here for a Summary Graphic from JCQ on Differences between male and female A Level subject choices 2024.
You may click here for gender differences in GCE Advanced Level Subject Choice in 2024 and the following table summarises male female subject choice ranking in 2024, 2023 and 2014.
In the following table the 10 most popular subjects in 2024 are listed followed by Geography, Computing and English Literature which were outside the overall ten most popular subjects but inside the ten most popular subjects for males, females, or both.
English and Religious Studies were among the top ten most popular subjects with females in 2014.
| Overall Ranking 2024 | Male Ranking 2024,2023 2014 | Female Ranking 2024 2023 2014 |
| 1 Mathematics | 1 1 1 | 3 3 4 |
| 2 Psychology | 8 8 10 | 1 1 2 |
| 3 Biology | 4 4 4 | 2 2 3 |
| 4 Chemistry | 5 5 3 | 4 5 7 |
| 5 History | 7 7 5 | 8 8 6 |
| 6 Business Studies | 6 6 9 | 9 9 |
| 7 Sociology | 5 4 8 | |
| 8 Art and Design | 6 6 5 | |
| 9 Physics | 2 2 2 | |
| 10 Economics | 3 3 7 | |
| Geography | 9 9 8 | 10 10 10 |
| Computing | 10 10 | |
| English Literature
|
7 7 | |
| English [2014] | 6[2014] | 1 [2014] |
| Religious Studies [2014] | 9 [2014] | |
GCE Advanced Level Examinations 2024: Some Related Media Coverage
Click here for baked in inequality within the English education system.
Click here for A Levels university costs and graduate earnings.
Click here for information on BTECs [BBC]
Click here for school exclusions.
Click here for A Levels top grades rise.
Click here for mismanagement of switch to T levels.
Click here for A Level students getting into first choice university.
Click here for university finance.
Click here for problems with university finances.
Click here for narrower range of A Level subjects chosen.
The GCSE Results of 2024
The key headline is that GCSE Pass rates have fallen for the third consecutive year as they return to pre-pandemic levels. Between 2023 and 2024 In England the pass rates at levels 4/c and above have fallen from 67.8% to 67.4% in England, from 64.5% to 61.7% in Wales and from 86.6% to 82% in Northern Ireland
Click here for the Joint Council for Qualifications
Click here of GCSE for BBC Coverage Results 2023
Click here for Guardian Coverage of GCSE results 2023.
Click here and scroll down for detailed statistics for 2016- 2023.
Click here for Guardian coverage of the 2024 GCSE results
Click here for BBC coverage of the 2024 GCSE results. This article has a very useful graphic on GCSE Grades 2019- 2024, the North South attainment gap and the issue of resits for GCSE English and Mathematics.
Gender and GCSE Results ***
Click here for BBC Coverage of Gender Gap at GCSE Level 1989-2019 and here for BBC coverage of more recent trends.]
This Guardian article is particularly useful. It has information on the gender gap, regional inequality, changes in subject popularity, foreign languages, and independent schools.
Here are the UK gender gap data for GCSE Examinations in 2023 and for 2024
| 2023 | 2024 | ||||||
| 1or above F | 98.4 | 98.5 | |||||
| 1or above M | 97.5 | 97.4 | |||||
| F-M Gender gap | 0.9 | 1.1 | |||||
| 4 or above F | 71.7 | 71.0 | |||||
| 4 or above M | 64.9 | 64.2 | |||||
| F-M Gender gap | 6.8 | 6.8 | |||||
| 7 or above F | 24.9 | 24.7 | |||||
| 7 or above M | 19.1 | 19.0 | |||||
| F-M Gender Gap | 5.8 | 5.7 | |||||
These data indicate that the female- Male Gender gap has increased in terms of those gaining pass grades 1 or above, remained constant in terms of those gaining as grades 4 and above and narrowed slightly in . This regional inequality reflects social and economic advantage and terms of those gaining pass grades 7 and above.
Females outperform males in overall GCSE results, and this arises because females outperform males [sometimes significantly] in a range of Humanities subjects whereas males outperform females only narrowly in Mathematics and Science subjects. Indeed, in some recent years females have also outperformed males in some individual Sciences. For example, in 2024 Females narrowly outperformed Males in GCSE Biology. Click here for Excel Chart on Gender differences in GCSE results in specific subjects 2024.
Gender and GCSE Subject Entries in 2024***
Click here for JCR data on differences between male and female GCSE subject entries and GCSE results by English region . [The data illustrate considerable regional inequality in results which reflect regional social and economic inequality, Data on differences in results between pupils eligible and ineligible for free school meals will be provided in Autumn DfE statistics.]
Gender differences in entry for compulsory GCSE subjects {English , Mathematics and Double or individual Sciences] are very small but there are some significant gender differences in entry for some GCSE subjects.
Click here for JCR data on changes in the relative popularity of different GCSE subjects 2015-2024.
Click here and here for EXCEL charts on Gender Differences in Subject Entries 2024 [These charts may be clearer than the following tables!]
Click here and here for further numerical data on Gender differences in subject entry and gender differences in examination results in specific subjects 2020-2024 .
In these tables , each cell contains information on gender differences in subject entry and in results at grade four and above so that for example the cell for Science Double Award in 2024 reads: Science Double Award M=50.2% F=2.5% which means that 50.2% of Science Double Award entrants were male and that 2.5% more of females than of males passed the examinations with Grades 4 or better.