Students across England are receiving lower grades than they might have done in 2022. The percentage of A or A* grades given for A-levels has fallen from 35.9% to 26.5% in 2023. Pupils’ grades are closer to those from before the pandemic, when 25.2% of results were at A or A*.
In 2021, 88.2% of all grades were a C or above; in 2022, this figure was 82.1%. In 2023, it’s down to 75.4% – slightly lower than 2019, when 75.5% of grades were at C or above.
These lower outcomes are the result of the government’s action to reverse the grade inflation of 2020 and 2021 – a consequence of assessment changes during the pandemic.
Pupils who would have sat their exams in 2020 and 2021 were instead awarded grades based on teacher assessments. These were very much higher than in previous years, and appear be inflated above what would have been achieved had they sat regular examinations.
