More than 800,000 A level results are being issued to students in England today. Students’ grades have been determined by their performance in their exams and assessments.
Grading has continued as normal this summer, following the return to pre-pandemic standards last year. It is important that grades reflect what students know, understand and can do, to support students in making the right choices about their next steps.
Sir Ian Bauckham, Chief Regulator, said:
Congratulations to all students receiving their results today. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work for them and everyone who supported them on the way.
A levels are highly trusted qualifications. Students can be confident their results will be valued and understood by employers and universities for years to come.
Key points
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Grading has continued as normal this summer and standards have been maintained from summer 2023.
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Overall A level results in England are similar to 2023. Outcomes at grade A and above are 27.6% compared with 26.5% in 2023, and outcomes at grade C and above are 76.0% compared with 75.4% in 2023. Every year there are small fluctuations in results. This can be due to changes in the cohort of students and changes in course choices over time.
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Overall AS results in England are similar to 2023. Outcomes at grade A are 23.0% compared with 21.8% in 2023. Entries for AS have fluctuated in recent years, making it much more difficult to interpret any changes.
Today (15 August 2024) we are publishing:
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a summary of results (below)
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infographics about this year’s A level results
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interactive visualisations of outcomes by centre type, variability in school and college A level results, A level outcomes in England, A level grade combinations, and an interactive map of England showing A level results in different subjects by grade and county
As normal, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has published results in England for AS and A level, overall and by subject. These results are also shown in our interactive visualisation.
Centre type results
Ofqual has updated its interactive visualisation to show A level results for different types of school and college compared with previous years, overall and by subject. The centre type categories are based on the national centre number (NCN) register and are self-reported by schools and colleges. Our interactive visualisations only include those schools or colleges that have entries for a particular subject in every year from 2018 to 2024.
Overall results for all types of schools and colleges are, in general, broadly similar to 2023 at grade A and above. When students take exams, the same assessment arrangements apply to everyone. Any differences in outcomes are therefore likely to reflect longstanding trends in the pattern of results for different centre types, and any changes compared to 2023 will reflect changes in attainment.
Cumulative percentage outcomes by centre type – grade A and above
Percentage of candidates awarded grade A and above in all subjects combined by centre type, 2019, 2023 and 2024
| Centre type | 2019 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academies | 24.0 | 25.4 | 26.5 |
| Free schools | 33.4 | 33.8 | 37.1 |
| FE establishment | 16.2 | 14.0 | 14.8 |
| Independent | 44.9 | 47.4 | 49.4 |
| Other | 22.8 | 23.4 | 22.5 |
| Secondary comprehensive | 20.1 | 22.0 | 22.3 |
| Secondary modern | 15.3 | 15.7 | 17.2 |
| Secondary selective | 37.0 | 39.3 | 41.0 |
| Sixth form college | 22.3 | 22.9 | 23.8 |
Centre variability
Ofqual’s interactive visualisation shows the level of variation in schools’ and colleges’ A level results compared with 2023. We know that, in any year, individual schools and colleges may see variation in the proportion of students achieving particular grades compared with previous years. This can be due to many different factors, including differences in the mix of students entered for particular qualifications, different teaching approaches, changes in teaching staff or teaching time, and changes to qualifications.
Our interactive visualisation allows users to explore variation in centres’ results for different age groups and sizes of centres.
Equalities analyses
As well as the results breakdowns published today, Ofqual will be repeating the equalities analyses that we have published since 2020. Ofqual makes this information available so that the whole sector can understand qualification results and use this to inform policy making and practice. These detailed analyses consider whether the gaps between results for different groups of students have changed compared with previous years, while controlling for a range of student characteristics. It is important that these analyses control for as many student characteristics as possible, to ensure that meaningful conclusions can be drawn from the results. This does mean, however, that it is not possible for us to complete these analyses ahead of results being issued, because final data from exams is only available very close to results days. We will publish our equalities analyses as soon as we can, in the autumn.
When students take exams, the same assessment arrangements apply to everyone – students’ grades are solely determined by the number of marks they achieve in the assessments, and the same rules apply to everyone taking the same qualification. The gaps between results for different groups of students are therefore likely to reflect long-standing trends in attainment, and any changes this year will reflect changes in attainment. Differential patterns of achievement in qualifications reveal, rather than create, educational disparities. They are an important part of the evidence needed for addressing those disparities.
Grade boundaries
Exam boards have set grade boundaries this summer based on a combination of data and qualitative evidence. As in any year, there has been an important role for examiner judgement. Expert examiners have reviewed the quality of students’ work compared with previous years.
Grade boundaries typically change each exam series and are often different between exam boards. This reflects any differences in the difficulty of the assessments. If an exam paper is harder the grade boundaries will be lower, and if an exam paper is easier the grade boundaries will be higher. This is important to ensure that students are not advantaged or disadvantaged based on the exam paper that they sit. This means that some grade boundaries are lower than 2023, while others are higher.
Grading has taken place as normal this summer and standards have been maintained from summer 2023. Students can therefore be confident in the grades they receive, irrespective of the grade boundaries or how they compare to last year.
