Over 5 million GCSE results were released today, bringing with it a startling realisation.
The amount of students who attained a A*-C has dropped by a shocking 2.1% compared to last year. This comes as a surprise given new government measures that forced students who got a D to resit their exams. It was assumed these new laws would see an increase in grades C and above.
In England alone, the A*-C pass rate has sunk from 68.8% to an unprecedented 66.6%
English and Maths have been hit the worst. The amount of A*-C in English plummeted by 5.2%, Maths 2.3%
The overall pass rate, A*-G, had a marginal decline from last year going from 98.6% to 98.4%
The proportion of A* fell for the fifth year in a row.
The Director of Buckingham’s Centre for Education and Employment Research, Professor Alan Smithers, said it may have “something to do with this being the last year of the existing maths and English syllabuses, and some schools concentrating on the new syllabuses which they are already teaching for next year’s exams.”
The gender gap has only widened with these new results. Girls outperformed boys, with 7.9% achieving an A* compared to 5% for boys.
