Students have been advised to check the Ucas clearing website for university courses ahead of results day
By Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent
Students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive A-level, T-level and BTec results on Thursday morning.
A-level results in England are set to drop for a second year running, bringing grades back in line with 2019 levels.
It follows a spike in top grades in 2020 and 2021, when exams were cancelled because of Covid.
In Wales and Northern Ireland, results are set to be higher than they were in 2019 but lower than 2022.
The pass rate for exams in Scotland fell last week – but was still higher than before the pandemic.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) has warned that spaces on some courses at top universities will “go quite quickly” on results day.
Most university applicants are set to get their first choice of course, but students have been advised to come up with a “plan B” in case they miss their offer.
A-Level results: What to do if you miss your grades
Thursday also sees results for AS-levels released. In Wales and Northern Ireland, these will count towards a student’s final A-level result next summer.
To achieve the technical qualification, time is split between classroom learning and industry placements – with students awarded a pass, merit, distinction or distinction* after two years of work and study.
‘Excited, but anxious’
By Christina McSorley, education producer
Lara, 18, is planning to move out of her family home in London and head to university in the next few weeks. She is waiting to get her A-level grades in English literature, maths and computer science.
“There were definitely some challenges and some exams were harder than the others, but it was nice to hear the invigilator say ‘pens down’,” she says.
Lara is a registered young carer for her younger sister, and says the potential move does “bring up some anxieties”.
“I’ll still be available to phone and pop down to visit, but there is that anxiety that I will be leaving and I’m not sure how either of us will react to that situation,” she said.
With the support of her parents and family and the Carers Trust charity, Lara says she is ready to take the next step and would encourage other young carers to reach out and get some help.
“Hollie, my sister, would like to turn my room into a Lego room when I leave,” she says. “She is very excited.”
Exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid. Pupils’ grades were based on teachers’ predictions instead, leading to a spike in top results.
England’s exams watchdog, Ofqual, set out a two-year plan to bring A-level and GCSE results back down to pre-pandemic levels.
Last year was the first time students sat exams since the start of the pandemic. Ofqual called it a “transition year”, with grades set to reflect a midway point between 2019 and 2021. About 36.4% of A-levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were marked at A* and A.
Now, in the second stage of the plan, grades are due to be much more similar to those in 2019, when 25.4% of A-levels were given the top grades.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said bringing them back down would ensure results carried “weight and credibility” with employers, universities and colleges, so they know what the different grades mean.
However, this year’s A-level students also suffered from disruption because of Covid.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said students getting A-level and other Level 3 results had faced “unprecedented circumstances”.
Most of them were in Year 10 when the pandemic hit and their GCSEs were cancelled, so this is the first time they have sat formal exams.
The impact on pupils was not equal, and MPs have warned it could take a decade for the gap between disadvantaged pupils and others to narrow to what it was before Covid.
These students have also faced disruption from teacher strikes this year, although unions said they tried to minimise the impact on exam year groups.
The Covid disruption means things are not quite back to normal.
Ofqual says there is “protection built into the grading process” so that students should achieve the grades they would have done if the pandemic had not happened – even if they did not perform as well in their exams.
Some Covid measures also remained in place for this year’s exams. A-levels were spaced apart more than they were before the pandemic, allowing for rest and revision.
But, unlike in the rest of the UK, A-level students in England were not given advance information about the topics on which they would be tested.
In Wales and Northern Ireland, grades are still expected to be higher than they were in 2019.
The Association of School and College Leaders has said the government must make employers aware that different year groups have been graded differently.
Universities have taken the changes in grading into account when making offers this year, according to the Department for Education.
The number of 18-year-olds in the population is growing, so it could be more competitive to get a place at universities asking for the highest grades, like the elite Russell Group ones.
Applications to undergraduate courses from international students are also up slightly on last year.
Last week, Ucas chief executive Clare Marchant said students would have to be “quick off the mark” to get a place at a top university through clearing.
But she also assured students that the “vast majority” would get their first choice of university, and there would be a “wide range of opportunities” elsewhere if they did not.
There are more than 28,000 courses available in the online system, she said – about 5,000 of which are at highly selective institutions.
Students have been advised to look at what is available in clearing ahead of results day, in case they do not get the results they needed for their firm or insurance choices.
What questions do you have about results day? Whether you have queries about A-levels, GCSEs, Highers or vocational courses, you can get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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