A-Level Results Day 2023

Published 17th August 2023

A-Level Results Day 2023

The day that so many eighteen-year-olds have been eagerly anticipating has finally arrived. Congratulations to all students picking up the Level 3 results today, be that A Level, T Level, or vocational award. This year brought a new challenge, as many pupils faced their first formal exams due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Whilst we hope all went as planned when that email/envelope was unveiled this morning, it is important to remember that these results represent a staging point on a journey; they are not an endpoint and do not define you as a person. If your results have not gone as planned, please do reach out to your teachers, who will be able to offer help and support as required.

Universities and colleges might accept you even if you narrowly miss entry requirements, potentially offering an alternate course. Additionally, the option to resit exams exists, and discussions with your school or college can shed light on these potential pathways.

Apprenticeships, traineeships, and entry-level jobs also offer viable routes. Furthermore, the possibility of taking a gap year could provide time for introspection and decision-making.

Whatever your next steps, we wish all young people well for the next stage of their academic and personal journey.

Results Analysis 2023

As stated above, this year is the first since 2019 not to have the assessment methodology disrupted by the pandemic. In the interim period and in the absence of formal examinations, awards were made based on teacher assessments. Given this, any direct comparisons with 2022 results are likely to be misleading, and the best comparisons can be made by looking back to the 2019 results set.

A Level entries increased by 2.2% this year, slightly higher than anticipated given the population of eighteen-year-olds nationally has risen by 0.5%.

Design and Technology A Level received 10,639 entries in 2023 across the home nations, a disappointing 6.7% drop since last year.

It is still more challenging to receive the top grade of A* or A in England than it is within either Wales or Northern Ireland (see chart left).

Some good news within Design and Technology is that the percentage of students achieving the top grades A* to B improved in 2023 compared to performance in 2019.

5.6% achieved an A* in 2023 compared to 4.5% in 2019.

17.9% achieved A*/A in 2023 compared to 15.9% in 2019 and 42.3% achieved grade A*/B in 2023 compared to 39.5% in 2019.

As always, we will produce and publish a more in-depth analysis as soon as further detail is published. Until this time, congratulations to all students and their teachers for the results published today.

Graph from FFT Education 

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