Stricter marking has seen A-level grades fall by record levels as disappointed students faced the reality of a return to pre-pandemic guidelines.
The percentage of top grades (A*-A) was down from 35.9 per cent to 26.5 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, an unprecedented 10.1 per cent of grade entries were awarded E or U (unclassified), compared to 6.6 per cent last year. The pass rate of A* to E grades fell to 97.3 percent this year, the lowest level since 2008. Dubbed Generation Covid, this cohort of students didn’t have formal GCSE exams which meant that some had not sat an exam since they took SATs when they were 11 years old.
