Posts Tagged ‘A-level results’

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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GCSE pupils achieve record results

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

First Tutors would like to wish all of our tutees the very best of luck as they collect their exam results today. Good luck as well to our tutors, who are probably just as nervous!

If national data is anything to go by, today’s exam results should be the cause of celebration for many of our tutees and tutors: 2010 has proved to be another record-breaking year for GCSE results.

Almost seven out of ten GCSE entries this year have been awarded a C grade or above and the pass rate overall has risen for the 23rd year in a row. This year, 98.7% of entries achieved a pass grade.

The results also mirror the A-level trend for an increase in entries for the Sciences and a decrease in that for the traditional modern languages.

In individual Science GCSEs, Biology entries have increased by 28.3%, chemistry by 32.2% and physics by 32.1%.

By contrast, entries in French and German have gone down by 5.9% and 4.5% respectively. However, there were big rises in those for Portuguese, Chinese and Polish.

This year also shows an increased trend in pupils sitting GCSE English and GCSE Maths a year early. This year, more than 10% of pupils sat Maths early whilst just under this figure took English early – a 50% increase on last year’s entries.

The figures have attracted criticism by some educators, with many saying that the exams are becoming “too easy” and “too predictable”. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers stated that the exam system was in “disarray” and that even those who achieved “a string of A*s” were not well served by GCSEs. However, First Tutors would like to offer sincere congratulations to all the students who are today celebrating the results of their hard work.

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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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Choose your A-levels wisely

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

As A-level results day looms near, news this week reveals that some students might not be offered a place at university – not because of their A-level results, but because of the A-levels themselves that they studied.

David Willetts, the minister for universities and science, stated this week that many pupils were studying A-levels that were unsuitable for their intended degree. He said: “There are people who do stay on for A-levels but they are doing PE, religious studies and geography, and they say they want to be an engineer.”

Mr Willetts has called for better careers advice to pupils in Years 10 and 11 and more carefully considered input from teachers in order to help them select the A-level subjects that university admissions tutors would actively seek out.

Worryingly, he also said that “perhaps a quarter” of all A-levels studied by young people were “not valued” by most universities.

Although representatives from teaching unions have denied the claims, these are striking  comments and that younger pupils should take on board. The lesson here? It’s so important to research university admissions requirements properly when choosing which A-levels to study. If your child doesn’t know what degree subject to study when they choose their A-levels, then they should find out which subjects are generally well-regarded by the institutions that they might apply to.

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Cuts to university places expected next year

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

With A-level results right around the corner, many students’ minds are turning to university. More than 660,000 people applied for a university place this year, up almost 12% on last year (which was itself a record-breaker, at 592,312 applications for 373,793 places).

The surge in university applications is largely explained by people opting for education rather than trying to find a job in a tough economic climate. There has also been a significant increase in university applications from prospective mature students and from people who missed out on places last year.

However, anyone thinking of taking a gap year and applying next year when the economy may be stronger should think again. All the signs point to competition for university places increasing yet further in 2011 because the new Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has ordered a radical shake-up of higher education. It’s very likely this will result in fewer university places being made available.

Tony Blair set the famous target of getting 50% of young people through university, but Cable has made clear his concerns that the increase in available university places has devalued degrees. Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, disagrees with Cable’s view and has warned that reducing university places would “jeopardise the fragile economic recovery and place us at risk of returning to a higher education system accessible only to a liberal elite”.

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GCSE results show 20% of entries received A or A*

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

750,000 students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their GCSE results today. An analysis of overall trends in this year’s GCSE results yields findings almost identical to those of last week’s A-level results.

These were the main trends:

  • One in five exam papers received an A or A* grade – the best GCSE results to date.
  • The overall pass rate was 98.6%.
  • The gap between boys and girls has narrowed, with boys performing better than girls in Maths for the first time since 1997, although girls performed slightly better in most other subjects.
  • The number of pupils sitting GCSE English and English literature and scoring a C or above fell by 0.2%.
  • There has been a decline in the number of pupils taking language GCSEs – this statistic has declined each year since 2005 when the government removed the mandatory requirement for pupils to take at least one language GCSE.

It seems that the choice of school makes all the difference to pupils’ overall performance at GCSE. Grammar schools yielded the best results this year, with 55% of all GCSE exams receiving an A or A*. This figure was 53.7% for independent schools and just 17.3% for comprehensives. However, the biggest year-on-year improvement came from private schools, who experienced a 2.5% increase in the number of A and A* grades awarded, compared with 0.4% in grammars and 0.9% in comprehensives.

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Half of university clearing places gone in four days

Monday, August 24th, 2009

It has only been four days since this year’s A-level students received their exam results, but the rush for university places is well underway.

Over 50% of the 22,000 university places available through the “clearing” system have already been snapped up. The number of students who have secured a university place through clearing has already reached 12,318 according to the latest figures from Ucas. This compares with a total of 7,500 who found a university place in this way last year.

The total number of people who are eligible to apply for a university place through the clearing system is 141,130, according to Ucas. This is 22,600 more students than last year.

There are several reasons why students qualify for the clearing process. One is because they have not met the grades required by their first choice of university; another is that they have chosen not to take up an offer. Alternatively they may not have received any offers, or they may have changed their minds from an initial decision not to apply to a university.

Indeed, the clearing figures bear out earlier predictions by analysts that the recession would create an unprecedented demand for university places. Rising unemployment has evidently made school-leavers think twice about attempting to enter the job market.

Applicants who have not yet secured a university place for this autumn’s intake are encouraged to apply now!

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Record-breaking A-level results

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Private tutors can be proud: this year’s A-level exam results have broken all previous records. Here’s our run-down of what today’s A-level results mean for our tutees and the other 310,000 students who sat their exams this year:

Record A-level results

More than half of all grades were As or Bs, and the overall A-E pass rate was an impressive 97.5%. Over a quarter (26.7%) of all exams received an A grade, and more than three quarters received at least a grade C.

Only Northern Ireland experienced a fall in A-level results, with a 1% drop in the number of students receiving A grades. Nevertheless, students in Northern Ireland have outperformed their counterparts in England and Wales with an overall A-E pass rate of 98.4%.

It seems the traditional girl-boy divide is showing signs of improvement. Although A-level results for girls were still better than those for boys, the gap in the number of A grades narrowed to its lowest since 2003.

Results for more than 310,000 students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland were described by government ministers as the “sign of a thriving education system”.

Traditional A-level subjects most popular

Today’s results show that traditional subjects remain more popular A-level choices than so-called “soft” subjects. English and Maths were the top choices for A-level subjects. Certainly our experience bears this out: there are more searches for English tutors and Maths tutors every month than for any other subject.

There is hope for the sciences as well, despite a long-term downward trend. Biology was the third most popular A-level subject after English and Maths, and there was also an increase in Chemistry and Physics entries.

However, foreign languages did not fare so well. French entries dropped to a record low of 14,353 entries and A-level German received only 5,765 exam entries.

University places

Students who have not yet lined up places at university need to act quickly: the university admissions service (UCAS) said that 135,114 students were eligible for clearing this year – for only 22,000 places. Last year there were 112,000 eligible candidates for 43,000 places.

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