Almost a quarter of a million fewer top GCSE grades predicted as exams return

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1. Girls beat boys in GCSEs as pupils brace for big fall in passes

2. Now GCSE pupils face grades misery as report predicts number of top marks will fall by almost 250,000

3. Boys likely to get lower GCSEs this week because they spent more time playing PlayStation games during Covid

4. Top GCSE grades likely to plummet as return to pre-Covid exam reality bites

5. Fail grades predicted to rise as GCSEs return to pre-pandemic levels

Top grades awarded to this year’s GCSE students will fall, with more pupils failing and a slight narrowing of the girls’ lead over boys, an education expert has suggested.

In line with the move back towards pre-pandemic grading, there could be some 230,000 fewer top grades in the UK compared with 2021, but 230,000 more than 2019, Professor Alan Smithers predicted.

The director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham said the pattern was likely to be similar to the change seen in A-level results on Thursday, when grades fell from pandemic highs, but remained above 2019 levels.