On August 15, 2024, the results of the British A-Level exam were officially anno
On August 15, 2024, the results of the British A-Level exam were officially announced. Surprisingly, the original forecast that "A*-A scores will be reduced by 16,000 copies" did not come true! On the contrary, this year's high score ratio has not declined, but has increased.
However, the situation in England continued last year's "worst scenario" and became the region with the lowest A-Level score among the four regions. This contrast has aroused widespread concern, showing significant differences in educational achievements among regions.
1. The trend of high scores is a shortcut to the preferred university.
According to the latest report, despite the efforts of the British education department to control the rise of A-Level scores, the number of students with the highest A-Level scores has increased this year. According to the specific data, this year's A*-A grade ratio rose from 27.2% last year to 27.8%. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a total of 10,600 A*-A grades were awarded, of which the number of A grades increased by nearly 5,000 to 82,000. This means that one in every 10 A-Level students gets an A*.
This year, the proportion of A-Level students has reached the highest level except COVID-19 epidemic, and the number of A-level students with the highest scores has also increased by 0.4 percentage points to 9.3%, which is the highest proportion since the introduction of A* in 2010.
In addition, according to UCAS data, 62.4% of 18-year-old students successfully entered their preferred university this year, up from 58.8% last year. This trend shows that students' chances of entering ideal higher education institutions are increasing despite the overall improvement of their grades.
2. The regional differences have intensified, and education in England is facing challenges.
Britain's education system consists of four regions: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the economic development and education level of each region are significantly different. Despite the overall increase in the proportion of A-Level high scores this year, England continued the "tragedy" of last year.
Specifically, the proportion of A-Level scores of A*-A this year is as follows:
England: 27.6%, up from 26.5% in 2023;
Wales: 29.9%, down from 34% last year;
Northern Ireland: 30.3%, significantly lower than last year's 37.5%.
The proportion of students with high scores in Northern Ireland dropped the most, by 7.2 percentage points year-on-year. The goal of Wales and Northern Ireland is to restore the A-Level scores to the normal level before the COVID-19 epidemic by 2024, while England basically returned to normal last year.
Although this year's high score ratio is still higher than 25.4% in 2019, the overall goal has not been achieved. In addition, the overall pass rate of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (grade A*-E) has dropped to 97.2%, which is slightly lower than 97.3% in 2023 and 97.6% in 2018.
Within England, regional differences are still obvious. London was the best performer, with 31.3% of the results being rated as A* or A this year, up 1.3 percentage points from last year. East Midlands performed the worst, accounting for 22.5%, which was 0.2 percentage points higher than that in 2023, but it was still at a low level.
On the whole, the gap between the north and the south in education level in England still exists, reflecting the inequality in educational resources and opportunities between regions.
3. Reproduction of gender differences: the advantages of boys are expanded!
This year, the leading edge of boys getting the highest score in the A-Level exam continues to expand. The proportion of boys' A* scores increased by 0.4 percentage points to 9.5%, while that of girls was 9.1%. Compared with last year, the proportion of boys' A* scores rose from 9.1% to 9.5% this year, while the proportion of girls rose from 8.8% to 9.1%.
In the overall distribution of A*-A scores, 28% of girls' A-Level scores reached A*-A, while the proportion of boys was 27.6%. Although girls still occupy a certain proportion in the total A-A scores, boys show more obvious advantages in obtaining the highest scores.
This trend reflects the gender differences in academic performance, and the competitiveness of boys in A-Level exams seems to be increasing. It is worth paying attention to whether this gender difference will lead to discussions in future education policies and resource allocation.
4, private schools VS public schools, the education gap continues to expand!
In England, students from private schools perform best in A-Level examinations, and the gap with students from public schools is further widened. This year, nearly half (49.4%) of the students in private schools got A* or A, up from 47.4% last year. In contrast, 41% of grammar school students got the highest score, while 26.5% of Academies also got A-Level high score.
It is worth noting that the British public high school is the only school type whose A*-A ratio has declined, and its ratio has dropped from 19.3% in 2023 to 17.2% this year. This change shows that the proportion of high scores in public high schools is lower than that before the epidemic in COVID-19, which reflects the increasing inequality of educational resources and opportunities among different types of schools.
On the whole, the gap between private schools and public schools is not only obvious in the proportion of high scores, but also causes further concern about educational fairness and resource allocation.
5. STEM+ Mathematics, the most popular subject
In Britain, the number of A-Level candidates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects has greatly increased, and it is still the most popular choice among sixth-grade students. This year, the number of candidates for A-Level mathematics has increased by 10.9%, surpassing 100,000 for the first time, and continues to rank first in A-Level courses. At the same time, the number of candidates for advanced mathematics increased by 19.9%, making it the largest increase among all subjects, showing that about one-third of British students took the mathematics exam, and nearly two-thirds of them were boys.
In addition, the enrollment of A-Level physics has also increased by 12.3%, while the number of candidates in computer science, economics and chemistry has also increased significantly. This shows that courses in the STEM field are increasingly favored by students.
Although A-Level psychology is the second most popular subject after mathematics, the number of its candidates has dropped by 2.4%. The number of candidates in sociology decreased by 6.5%, and the number of candidates in history subjects also decreased by 2.2%. In contrast, the number of candidates in some humanities disciplines has increased, such as English literature. This year, the number of candidates has increased by 8%, which is the second consecutive year, and the number of candidates in French has also increased by 6.8%.
In terms of modern languages, the proportion of A*-A grade has increased most significantly, from 60.4% last year to 68.3% this year, an increase of 7.9 percentage points. The proportion of A*-A in German has also increased, with an increase of 2.5 percentage points. These trends show that students' interest in STEM continues to rise, while humanities also maintain its attraction to a certain extent.
6. The future A-Level exam situation is still unclear.
Regarding the 2024 A-Level exam, the British education sector believes that students who have experienced the epidemic have performed satisfactorily. However, students who take the A-Level exam in the future still need to be vigilant. As Britain's A-Level and GCSE scores will gradually return to the pre-epidemic trend, the overall high score ratio is still higher than the pre-epidemic level.
Whether in England, Scotland or Wales, this year's A-Level scores are still high. It is expected that the proportion of high scores will continue to be controlled in the future A-Level examination to ensure the strictness of the examination.
For China students studying in English private schools, although everyone is optimistic about the advantages of private schools in the A-Level examination and actively uses the teaching resources provided by private schools to strive for excellent results, they should not be taken lightly, and they must take A-Level study and examination seriously.
If you are studying GCSE in a private school in the UK, it is suggested that you carefully plan your future study and A-Level courses, and evaluate your learning experience and the resources provided by the school. At the same time, we should understand the 16+ application process of private schools in the UK, consider the related matters of university entrance as soon as possible, and whether to change schools in high school.