Posts Tagged ‘A* A-level’

Record high for A-Level students – Congratulations!

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

Susan from Leicester has just emailed us this morning with the good news!

“Please let tutor Ian know that Mollie got a B in her Maths A- level exam and says she couldn’t have done it without him! 

Teenage students have scored yet again another record-breaking year of A-level results, with one in 12 exams achieving an A* grade. More than 384,000 students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive their A-level results today, we hope you will be one to celebrate the good news! Regrettably, there still will be students struggling to secure a place at University but despair not – help is always available.

Mr. Andrew Hall, chief executive of awarding body AQA, said mathematics had seen a five-year increase in uptake of 40.2%, which he said was “really significant”. On the downside, Mr. Hall also added: “For everything that goes up, something comes down. Modern foreign languages are in long-term decline here”.

There has been an increase in science subjects too. Mr. Dawe, chief executive of the OCR said ” I think the message is getting through now, if you have got mathematics, it is a passport to many, many options”

Chinese has seen a significant rise in comparison to last year, with entries rising from 2,372 to 3,237 although French is down 4.7% and German down 6.9%.

First Tutors would like to congratulate A-level students without forgetting the private tutors too! Many tutors have dedicated time, passion and tutoring experience into helping students fulfil their dreams.

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Private pupils achieve the most A* grades

Monday, September 6th, 2010

As the nation’s teenagers recover from the stress of receiving their A-level results, the latest figures reveal that half the A-levels taken by pupils at independent schools in the UK were graded A or A* this year, according to figures from the sector.

According to the Independent Schools Council (ISC), which represents most of the UK’s private schools, nearly one in five pupils came away from this year’s exams with an A*grade. This year was the first in which the A* was introduced to the grading structure.

The ISC, which represents about 1,260 private schools across the UK, says six per cent of its candidates (2,108 pupils) were awarded three or more A* grades.

Nearly seven per cent of pupils in the UK attend a private school, although that figure leaps to nearly 20% amongst sixth-formers.

The results across state and private schools as a whole show that eight per cent of all A-levels were graded A*, with nearly 30% of pupils getting an A or an A*.

We’re sure that many First Tutors students are amongst the happy recipients of an A* or an A. Congratulations. We’re sure that you’re still celebrating!

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A-level results show record numbers of top grades

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

This year’s A-level results have been described as “record-breaking” as around one in 12 exams were awarded the new A* grade which was brought in to help top universities select the very best candidates. First Tutors would like to offer warm congratulations to our A-level tutees and tutors – well done!

More than 69,000 exam entries (just over eight per cent of the total) were awarded the A* according to the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).

To earn an A* a student has to score an A overall, plus at least 90% in each of their papers in the second year of their course.

More than one in four entries (just over 20 per cent) were awarded an A, a slight increase from last year.

The success comes in the first year of the revamped A-levels, in which students sit four modules instead of the previous six and answered new “stretch and challenge” questions designed to help them demonstrate their knowledge.

The most popular subjects this year were English, Maths, Biology, Psychology and History, with Modern Languages decreasing in popularity while the Sciences experienced a resurgence.

There was also good news for the overall pass rate, with 97.6 per cent of entries awarded an E or above. This was an improvement in the 97.5% pass rate in 2009 and marked the 28th year in a row in which A-level pass rates have increased.

Around 300,000 students received their results this year, but with more than 660,000 applications to undergraduate university courses, it has been predicted that up to 200,000 learners could miss out on their desired place.

David Willetts, the universities minister, said: “The most competitive universities really are very competitive indeed, so it does mean that there are people who can get three As at A-level and not find that they have got a place at those intensely competitive universities.”

He advised students to have an insurance offer for a less competitive university and to “think about doing the things that would make their CV even more distinctive and stand out for universities next year.”

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