The hard work is over and the all important A-level results are out. The last few years have seen huge upheaval and change after Covid exam cancellations and mitigations since.
Students heading off to university, jobs, or on other paths will care little about results beyond their individual grades. But the data tables behind A-level results has a story to tell.
From what's the most popular subject to take to where the most A*s are awarded the tables reveal all. Here we look at some of the things the latest results show – and one important thing they don't tell us. For the full details of A-level results across Wales see here.
Read more: What you can do if you didn't get the A-level results you expected in Wales
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After the exceptional results of Covid years exam bosses have been pushing back on what was seen as grade inflation. Record results were posted when exams were cancelled and grades awarded on teacher-assessed grades in 2020 and 2021. For the last two years students were given extra support, such as being told what topics to revise, in a move aimed at getting results to a midway point to pre-Covid results before reaching all the way this year.
Regulator Qualifications Wales said its aim was for summer 2024 results to be near to results for the last set of sat exams in 2019. That was achieved with overall pass marks A* to E across Wales this year standing at 97.4% , which is almost identical to 2019’s 97.6%.
But they were aware some subjects might fare worse than others so added what they described as protective measures to safeguard against that. Whether or not people agree all the measures to get things back to "normal" four years after Covid struck were right and fair they show that those in charge can tweak the system overall.
The percentage of marks awarded at the very top grades may have dropped this year in Wales but they are still high. Nearly one in three results were A* or A (29.9%). That compares with just over one in four in 2019 – the last “normal” exam year before Covid. This year more than one in 10 results achieved the gold standard A* compared to 8.9% in 2019.
How the last 10 years in Wales compare at A*-A grades
2024 29.9%
2023 (second year of sat exams post-pandemic) 34%
2022 (first year of sat exams post-pandemic) 40.9%
2021 (teacher-assessed grades) 48.3%.
2020 (teacher-assessed grades) 41.8%
2019 (last year of sat exams before pandemic) 26.5%
2018 26.3%
2017 25%
2016 22.7%
2015 23.1%
How the last five years in Wales compare at the top A* grade
2024 10.1%
2023 13.5%
2022 17.1%
2021 21.3%
2020 16.3%
2019 8.9%
Numbers taking modern languages have been consistently dropping for years. But modern languages got the highest rate of A* grades in Wales this year. That can’t just be down to small numbers taking them – maths, which also garners among the highest top marks, is the most popular A-level to take in Wales.
Only 65 students sat A-level German in Wales this summer with 54.8% achieving A*-A. Of the 242 who sat French A level 99.2% passed and 41.7% got A*-A. Of the 139 taking Spanish all passed and 42.2% got A*-A.
By contrast for maths, 3,734 took the subject at A-level making it by far the most popular choice. Of those 96.3% passed and 47.1% achieved A*-A.
The subjects with the highest rates of A*s
Other modern languages (not Welsh, French, German or Spanish): 44.4%
Further maths: 31.1%
Maths: 20.4%
German: 19.4%
Spanish: 15.8%
French: 14%
Physics: 12.6%
Chemistry: 12.6%
Biology 12.4%
Girls and boys achieved at pretty much the same rate In Wales. The overall pass rate for girls and boys in 2024 was broadly similar with 96.4% of subject entries by boys achieving A*-E grades compared to 98.1% of entries by girls. Girls continue to outperform males at most grade points – for A*-A by 0.5 percentage points and A*-C by 6.6 percentage points – although boys outperform girls by 1.2 percentage points at A*.
Welsh first language
2024 228 sat the subject at A-level
A*-E
2024 100%
2023 99.6%
2019 99.5 %
A*-A
2024 21.9%
2023 29.8%
2019 22.3%
A*
2024 4.4%
2023 5.3%
2019 4.7%
Welsh second language
2024 166 sat the subject at A-level
A*-E
2024 97%
2023 95.8%
2019 98.8%
A*-A
2024 24.1%
2023 21.8%
2019 13.7%
A*
2024 9 .6%
2023 4.2%
2019 4.%
Results aren’t comparable so we don’t really know how well Wales does at A-level standard compared to the rest of the UK. While all 15-year-olds sit the same international Pisa tests every three years A-levels and GCSEs are now very different around the UK.
Comparisons with results across the border are harder to make now that Wales’ education system has diverged so much. And comparisons with previous years have been made problematic thanks to changes with exams during Covid and post-Covid.
That said – and with caution – while top grades have risen slightly in England this year, compared to a fall in Wales, there are huge variations across England’s regions. Comparable data showing local authority A-level pass rates across Wales is not possible as most local authorities here did not publish that information. Swansea and Cardiff were the exceptions with both posting results better than the Wales national average.
Here are the A-level results for England and Wales with the caveat that the systems are very different and exams changed under Covid:
The percentages of A-level entries awarded the top grades (A*/A) by nation and region with the equivalent figures for both 2023 and the pre-pandemic year of 2019:
- North-east England 23.9% (2023: 22.0%; 2019: 23.0%)
- North-west England 25.5% (2023: 24.1%; 2019: 23.5%)
- Yorkshire and the Humber 24.6% (2023: 23.0%; 2019: 23.2%)
- West Midlands 24.8% (2023: 22.9%; 2019: 22.0%)
- East Midlands 22.5% (2023: 22.3%; 2019: 21.0%)
- Eastern England 27.5% (2023: 26.6%; 2019: 25.6%)
- South-west England 26.9% (2023: 26.3%; 2019: 25.8%)
- South-east England 30.8% (2023: 30.3%; 2019: 28.3%)
- London 31.3% (2023: 30.0%; 2019: 26.9%)
- England 27.6% (2023: 26.5%; 2019: 25.2%)
- Wales 29.9% (2023: 34.0%; 2019: 26.5%)
- Northern Ireland 30.3% (2023: 37.5%; 2019: 29.4%)
- All 27.8% (2023: 27.2%; 2019: 25.4%)
Here is the A-level pass rate (entries awarded A*-E grades) by nation and region:
- North-east England 97.6% (2023: 97.6%; 2019: 98.3%)
- North-west England 97.6% (2023: 97.4%; 2019: 97.9%)
- Yorkshire and the Humber 97.3% (2023: 97.2%; 2019: 97.8%)
- West Midlands 96.8% (2023: 96.8%; 2019: 97.1%)
- East Midlands 96.6% (2023: 96.9%; 2019: 97.4%)
- Eastern England 97.1% (2023: 97.3%; 2019: 97.6%)
- South-west England 97.4% (2023: 97.4%; 2019: 97.7%)
- South-east England 97.3% (2023: 97.5%; 2019: 97.8%)
- London 96.9% (2023: 96.9%; 2019: 96.8%)
- England 97.1% (2023: 97.2%; 2019: 97.5%)
- Wales 97.4% (2023: 97.5%; 2019: 97.6%)
- Northern Ireland 98.5% (2023: 98.8%; 2019: 98.4%)
- All 97.2% (2023: 97.3%; 2019: 97.6%)
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