6th September 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The grades achieved by A-level students have risen for the 28th year in a row. The new A* grade is being seen as a success with 8% of papers being awarded the new grade, which was designed the stretch more able students, and allow them to distinguish themselves more than before. To achieve the A* grade, a pupil needs to score an A overall, and at least 90% in each paper in the second year of the A-level. In total 97.6% of papers were awarded a grade E or above.
The results showed that girls are still doing better than boys, with 8.3% achieving an A* grade, and for boys this figure was 7.9%. Of the A*s awarded, 30% went to students at independent schools, despite these schools only accounting for 14% of all entries. There was the now standard increase in entries for Sciences, and drop in entries for languages. The most popular subjects at A-level remain English, Maths, Biology and History, with Psychology also becoming very prominent.
The rise in grades comes amid the most competitive year for university places for a long time. 660,000 students have applied for a university place, and in 2009 only 482,000 places were available. The problem has been compounded because many of those who didn’t win a university place last year, have reapplied this year and/or retaken their A-level exams. It’s expected that approximately 180,000 students will be looking for a university place through clearing, but in 2009 only 48,000 places were offered through this system.