18 August 2022

On Thursday 18th August GCE A Level and other Level 3 results have been published. The CIEA would like to congratulate students receiving their results today and wish them all the best in their chosen next steps.

We would also like to thank all involved in determining and awarding grades this summer for their incredibly hard work.

The summary below can be found in the JCQ press notice 2022

Summer 2022 A and AS level results mark successful return to exams for the first time since 2019.

This is the first time students have taken summer exams marked and graded by exam boards since 2019, after two years of grades being determined by schools and colleges. In line with the objective set out by Ofqual, overall outcomes are higher than 2019, when exams were last sat, but lower than 2021 outcomes.

Awarding bodies worked closely with the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual, to introduce a package of support for students including more lenient grading, advance information, adaptations and exam aids to support the transition back to exams. This was put in place to support students, schools and colleges through another challenging year due to Covid.

Highlights:

  • A level entries have increased by 2.9%, compared to an increase of 2.4% in the 18-year-old population in 2022
  • Outcomes at A*-E up by 0.8 percentage points (pp) from 2019
  • Overall outcomes for female entries are higher than for male entries at all grades
  • Mathematics remained the most popular A level subject
  • Geography continues to rise in popularity, and is one of the top 10 most popular subjects

Results compared with 2019 and 2021

Overall outcomes are higher than 2019, when exams were last sat

  • A* increased by 6.9pp from 7.7% to 14.6%
  • A*-A increased by 11pp from 25.4% to 36.4%
  • A*-E increased by 0.8pp from 97.6% to 98.4%

Overall outcomes are lower than 2021, when there was a different method of assessment

  • A* decreased by 4.5pp
  • A*-A decreased by 8.4pp
  • A*-E decreased by 1.1pp

Update on gender patterns

Female entries accounted for 54.7% of all A level entries for summer 2022

  • Overall outcomes at all grades were slightly higher for female entries than for male entries
  • Outcomes for female entries at A* are 14.8%, whereas outcomes for male entries are 14.4%
  • Outcomes for female entries at A*-A are 37.4%, whereas outcomes for male entries are 35.2%
  • Outcomes for female entries at A*-E are 98.7%, whereas outcomes for male entries are 98.1%
  • There are variations within subjects: A level Mathematics, and the modern foreign languages are examples of subjects where outcomes for male entries are higher at A* compared to outcomes for female entries

Subjects growing in popularity

There has been an increase in entries in other subjects, for example Political Studies (+11%), Psychology (+10.5%) and Geography (+6.2%). Having seen a dip in entries since 2019, Geography is again one of the top 10 most popular subjects in 2022.

Joint Council for Qualifications

  • Further information from JCQ can be found on their website here

·Ofqual

Other