A-Level results 2018: Does taking AS-Levels lead to improved A-Level grades?
The second of two preview posts ahead of this year's A-Level results day.
A-Level results 2018: What will this year’s results look like?
The first of two preview posts ahead of this year's A-Level results day.
Key Stage 5 performance tables 2017: Do minimum standards meet the standard?
Minimum performance standards for 16-18 Level 3 (A-Level and equivalent) attainment were first introduced in 2016. Separate standards were defined for academic qualifications (primarily A-Levels) and applied general qualifications (primarily BTECs). The standards are based on value added measures that control for pupil attainment at Key Stage 4. For academic qualifications, the minimum standard in [...]
How prevalent is Year 12 drop-out from selective schools?
Following the coverage of St. Olave’s school in The Guardian, I revisited the analysis I did on Year 12 retention to examine the prevalence of drop-out from selective schools. I look at a subset of pupils: those who made it to the end of Year 12 and were entered for at least three AS-Levels in [...]
GCSE results day 2017: Good news about resits in English
[This post was updated at 18.15 on 24th August 2017 to amend 2016 figures for maths] One bit of good news from this year’s GCSE results is that the percentages of 17-year-olds in England achieving A*-C grades in English have gone up. However, working out by just how much they have improved is made slightly [...]
A-Level results day 2017: A look at changing grade distributions
We looked at some of the main A-Level results trends this morning, and separately we have looked at how results changed in subjects that have been reformed (in brief: attainment fell slightly). But there are a couple of other interesting trends in grade distributions to be drawn out. Some specific subjects are seeing quite large [...]
A-Level results day 2017: The impact of reform in England and Wales
A massive 59% of A-Level exams sat in England this year were in reformed subjects which follow the new, linear model of sitting one set of exams at the end of the two-year course. Overall, and perhaps surprisingly, A-Level entries by 18-year-olds in reformed subjects increased by 2.3% in England. This compares to 0.7% in [...]
A-Level results day 2017: Is it the end of the road for AS-Levels?
Last year, we reported on entries and grades in the first set of AS-Levels to be reformed. Compared to 2015, entries fell in all subjects, ranging from 11% (business studies) to 33% (art and design). This year, more subjects have been reformed and decoupled from A-Levels. Data published by Ofqual earlier in the summer showed [...]
A-Level results day 2017: The key trends in three charts
Overall, A-Level pass rates have edged up slightly A*-A passes were up slightly (26.3% of all awards v 25.8% last year), though the overall A*-E pass rate was down slightly (97.9% v 98.1%). The proportion of A*s awarded was also up - to 8.3% of all awards, versus 8.1% last year. However, in England the [...]