Drop in Top Grade GCSE Results as Students Return to Pre-Pandemic Assessment

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As secondary school graduates open their GCSE outcome letters across the UK on Thursday, official data showed a 4.3 percent drop in this year’s top grade results.

The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of particular subjects, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

In England, GCSEs are graded using numbers rather than letters, with 9 being the highest grade and 1 being the lowest. Students need a 4 for a “standard pass” and 5 for a “strong pass.” Grades from 7 to 9 correspond with top grades of A and above on the A* to G scale.

This year’s results showed that more than 22 percent of UK GCSE entries were awarded top grades, meaning at least a 7. This compares to 26.3 percent last year.

However, when compared with pre-pandemic results of 20.8 percent, students did better this time around.

In the “standard pass” category, where students receive at least a 4 or a C grade, 68.2 percent of entries achieved this result. Similarly to the top grade category, students did better this year than the 2019 result of 67.3 percent but lower than 73.2 percent in 2022.

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Female students led in the top grades category by 5.8 percent, with 24.9 percent of entries by girls getting a 7/A or above compared with 19.1 percent for males.

The difference was bigger in 2019 when girls were ahead of boys by 7.4 percentage points.

Results, reported by Joint Council of Qualifications (JCQ) showed that the gender gap has also narrowed for entries achieving a grade 4 or above.

Pandemic Effect

The last years of secondary school education are dominated by preparation to GCSE exams, which are assessed predominantly by written tests.

An exception was made for students during the pandemic, when results were based on teacher assessments instead of exams. This year marks the return to pre-pandemic assessments and grading.

The government examinations regulator Ofqual has built protection into the grading process to recognise the disruption that students have faced.

This means students should be able to get the grade they received before the pandemic even if the quality of their work was slightly weaker this year.

The general secretary of Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), Geoff Barton, said “an enormous amount of hard work” by students was done in “often difficult circumstances,” given the impact of the pandemic.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan called the results “impressive” and said they show “how hard students have worked in really unprecedented circumstances.”

Last week students in the UK received their A-level results, which are used as entry requirements for universities and colleges. The percentage of students who achieved top grade results in A-levels was lower than last year, but showed an improvement compared to 2019.

“As with A level results last week, today’s GCSE results have returned to pre-pandemic levels, similar to those in 2019, and–as expected–lower than in 2022. Students have been at the forefront of our thinking at all times, which is why we built in grade protection to recognise the disruption that students have faced in recent years,” chief regulator Jo Saxton said.

Although there are approximately 60 GCSE subjects available in the UK, most schools offer a choice of 20. Apart from the core subjects of English, math and science, students can choose to sit exams in additional subjects.

In terms of the spread of entries according to a subject, statistics, social sciences and business studies have seen a big jump this year compared with 2022.

Students taking Spanish GCSE exams accounted for an increase by 11.3 percent compared to last year.

After completing their GCSEs, students can choose to continue their education by taking A-levels or other qualifications, as well as apply for apprenticeship or jobs with training.