17 August 2023

On Thursday 17 August A, AS and Vocational and Technical Qualifications 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 teachers, exams officers, school and college leaders and all involved in awarding grades this summer for their hard work.

The information in the summary below has been supplied Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ)

Introduction

Over 1 million A level, AS and Vocational and Technical qualification results are being awarded to students today.

Highlights

  • Overall grades for A levels are similar to before the pandemic, in line with policy
  • There has been an increase in overall entries for A level
  • Level 3 VTQs and T level results have also been issued today
  • Mathematics remains the most popular A level; Computing A level has biggest increase in the number of entries and Economics is now one of the ten most popular A level entries have increased in 2023 - England, Northern Ireland & Wales level subjects

A level entries have increased in 2023 - England, Northern Ireland & Wales

A level UK entries increased by 2.2% from 848,910 in summer 2022 to 867,658 in 2023. However, the individual picture across the nations differs. Whilst England and Northern Ireland saw an increase in A level entries, Wales saw a slight decrease.

According to ONS population estimates, the 18-year-old population increased by 0.5 % for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland combined. Entries from this age group account for 92.6% of UK A level entries.

Changes in entries – AS level

UK entries for AS qualifications increased by 4.2% from135,397 in summer 2022 to 141,096 in 2023. However, the individual picture across the nations differs. Whilst Northern Ireland and Wales saw an increase in AS entries, there was a decrease in England, mostly due to differences in qualification design where AS is a stand-alone qualification.

According to ONS population estimates, the 17-year-old population increased only slightly by 0.1 % for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland combined. Entries from
this age group account for 80.2% of UK AS entries.

2023 A level results are similar to 2019

Overall results compared to 2019

  • A* up by 1.2pp
  • A* - A up by 1.8pp
  • A* - E down by 0.3pp

Overall results compared to 2022

  • A* down by 5.7pp
  • A* - A down 9.2pp
  • A* - E down 1.1pp

A Level results: Male/Female

Entries

  • Females make up 54.3% of A Level entries

Outcomes

  • A* grades - 0.3pp more males
  • A*- A grade – 0.6pp more females

Top most popular subjects

Mathematics remains the most popular subject followed by Psychology, Biology, Chemistry, History and Sociology. Economics replaces Geography in the top 10 and Art and Design switches place with Business studies moving down from seventh to eighth most popular subject.

Vocational and technical qualifications

Level 3 VTQs taken in schools and colleges alongside/as an alternative to A levels and included on Performance Tables Qualifications. These qualifications are offered by 15 Awarding Organisations. There are 256 qualifications which differ in terms of purpose, content, size etc. There is a range of different grading scales and guided learning hours.

Entries

This year, 213,600 Applied Generals and 41,400 Tech Level certificates were awarded. The largest subjects were Business, Administration, Law, Health, Public Services and Care and Social Sciences.

Results

Nearly 23,500 (9%) top grades were awarded. The number of certificates awarded has changed considerably since summer 2019 making meaningful comparisons over time difficult to interpret.

Overall T Level grade results 2023

This is the second year T Level results will be awarded, and the first time overall T Level results are based entirely on formal assessments. Last year results were based partially on Teacher Assessed Grades.

Results

This year, 3,448 students are receiving overall results. The overall Pass Rate is 90.5% (3,119). 69.2% (2387) achieved a Merit or above. 98.7% of learners achieved an ‘E’ or above in their Core Component. 94.9% of learners achieved a ‘Pass’ or above in the Occupational Specialism

Further information can be found below.

Joint Council for Qualifications

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

Ofqual

Other