Just 16.4 per cent of students resitting GCSE maths in England passed with at least a grade 4 this year – down 4.8 percentage points on pre-pandemic levels.
Pass rates for English resits meanwhile hit 25.9 per cent, down by a similar level of 4.4 percentage points on the year before Covid-19 hit.
This is the second year that exams have returned since 2019 when the pandemic prompted a temporary switch to teacher-assessed grades.
Entries to maths and English GCSEs for post-16 students this year rose by 19,000 and 13,000 respectively compared to 2022, as they continue to recover to pre-pandemic levels which led to a big drop in entries.
