A-level results joy for borough students

Students across the borough are celebrating another fantastic year of A-level results.
Celebrations as students open their A-level exam results at Winstanley CollegeCelebrations as students open their A-level exam results at Winstanley College
Celebrations as students open their A-level exam results at Winstanley College

There were tears of joy from both student and parents as Winstanley College’s class of 2018 earned some incredible grades.

Other news: Hospital works lead to op axe increase The morning even saw several aspiring medics, GPs and computer scientists accepted into the some of the best universities in the country; Oxford and Cambridge among them.

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Nationally the proportion of candidates receiving top grades is the highest since 2012. A total of 26.4 per cent entrants scored either an A or A*, up slightly on 26.3 in 2017.

Celebrations as students open their A-level exam results at Winstanley CollegeCelebrations as students open their A-level exam results at Winstanley College
Celebrations as students open their A-level exam results at Winstanley College

Some eight per cent of entrants received an A*, down from 8.3 per cent last year. This is the lowest level since 2013, when it was 7.6 per cent.

The overall pass rate (grades A*-E) was 97.6 per cent, down from 97.9 last year. This is the lowest pass rate since 2010, when it was also 97.6.

Boys lead girls in the top grades for the second year running. The proportion of boys who got A or higher was 26.6 per cent, 0.4 percentage points higher than girls (26.2).

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Last year boys led girls by 0.5 percentage points (26.6 boys, 26.1 girls). Before 2017, girls had traditionally led boys, though the gap had been narrowing since 2008.

The gap between the best-performing boys and girls has fallen slightly. The proportion of boys who got A* was 8.5, 0.9 percentage points higher than girls (7.6).

In 2017 the figures were 8.8 per cent for boys, 7.8 girls - a gap of 1.0 points.

The most popular subject this year was maths. It was taken by 97,627 entrants, up 2.5 per cent on 2017.

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Biology was the second most popular subject. It was taken by 63,819 entrants, up 3.1 per cent on 2017. The third most popular subject was psychology, taken by 59,708 entrants, a rise of 1.8.

General studies saw the biggest drop in candidates of any subject with more than 1,000 entrants. The number fell by more than half (52.1).

Computing saw the biggest jump in entrants, rising by 23.9 per cent on 2017.

There were 811,776 A-levels awarded, down two per cent on last year’s total and the lowest number since 2007.