After three years of grading directly affected by the pandemic, 2023 marked the first year where A level, technical and vocational qualifications were set to return to roughly pre-pandemic levels. Most students completing their 16-19 study in 2023 will not have sat a formal exam before this year, as they were awarded teacher assessed GCSE grades in 2021. Entries for A levels in 2023 were higher than ever, likely to be explained by an increase in the size of the 18-year-old population and by the record levels of high GCSE grades registered in 2021, which may have influenced students course decisions.
There were almost 800,000 A levels awarded in 2023 and 255,000 certificates awarded in the vocational and technical qualifications (of those reported in the official performance tables).
Although this year’s exams returned to pre-pandemic grading, the government have included a protection mechanism to account for the severe disruption that the students have faced during recent years. The protection mechanism assists students by adjusting grades upwards in subjects where national performance was lower than pre-pandemic levels. It is currently unclear to what extent this affected grading in 2023.
