• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Devastated pupils believe they've been 'completely screwed over' after opening A-level results

Home> News> UK News

Published 13:40 18 Aug 2023 GMT+1

Devastated pupils believe they've been 'completely screwed over' after opening A-level results

Some pupils say the return to pre-pandemic grading has left them 'completely screwed over'

Joe Harker

Joe Harker

Yesterday (17 August) was A-Level results day and it had pretty much everything you'd expect from the annual occasion.

Jeremy Clarkson yet again reminded us that he turned out alright despite not getting good grades at school, the UCAS website struggled to deal with the number of students wanting to know their grades and plenty was on offer for those going for a celebratory meal.

However, after a return to a pre-pandemic grading system, pupils have seen their results drop compared to previous years.

Advert

The way students were graded changed during the pandemic, first to the disastrous clusterf**k cooked up by Gavin Williamson and then to a grade based on teacher assessment.

Now exam grades have returned to the pre-pandemic system and the drop off in results has been noticeable.

For many students who did their A-Levels, it's the first time they sat any exams this serious due to the pandemic.
Roy Mehta/Getty

The number of students getting the top grades are actually up on 2019, but they've fallen sharply compared to last year.

In England, 26.5 percent of students got an A or A* grade, up on the 25.2 percent in 2019 but quite some way down from the 35.9 percent last year.

Advert

Wales has gone from 40.9 percent to 34 percent, while Northern Ireland has fallen from 44 percent to 37.5 percent of pupils with top grades in their exams.

There are always students who get disappointing A-Level results, but this year that cohort is somewhat larger than it has been for awhile and some are feeling hard done by, or as one student told the Daily Telegraph 'completely screwed over'.

They added that they 'hadn't actually done any real exams' before sitting down to do their A-Levels so they didn't have the experience with taking tests that students pick up over their time in school.

“I didn’t really realise how much my education had been affected by Covid until I reached exam season." they said.

The grading system has changed back to the pre-pandemic one and some students are feeling screwed over.
sajoiner/Getty

Advert

This latest group of A-Level recipients have spent the past few years receiving their education in Covid-disrupted conditions and now they've hit the double whammy of a lack of exam experience and the grading system going back to the way it was.

On top of that, some experts reckon that this year's exams were particularly difficult for certain subjects.

Physicist Dr Peter Edmunds said he takes the A-Level tests every year and this year got 90 percent on his physics exams, which is 'comfortably an A*' but set his alarm bells ringing.

He explained that given that he's a physicist and head of physics at a 'highly selective school', he should be doing better than that, arguing that the tests had 'extremely prescriptive mark schemes'.

Other scientists taking the tests for themselves agreed that this year's papers were 'too difficult'.

Featured Image Credit: Matthew Horwood via Getty / Peter Nicholls via Getty

Topics: UK News, Education, News

Joe Harker
Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

X

@MrJoeHarker

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    Woman, 25, has 'life changed forever' after car accident leads to heartbreaking discovery

    Paige Myatt-Taylor was given a devastating diagnosis after being checked over following a car crash

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Kid Cudi says Diddy blew up his Porsche and ‘messed with his dog’ after finding out he was dating Cassie

    The rapper, real name Scott Mescudi, has taken to the stand to share his side of the story

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    New study uncovers easier alternative to fasting by changing habit for two days a week

    Turns out there are easier ways to shed those pounds

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Eating common plant extract could prevent bowel condition that five million people live with

    See, eating your greens is good for you

    News
  • Jeremy Clarkson posts annual A-Level results tweet with huge announcement to fans
  • Reason Educating Manchester headteacher Drew Povey has been banned from teaching after 'off-rolling'
  • It's been 10 years since Lee Evans completely disappeared from showbiz after shock announcement
  • Young girl banned from school over ‘tiny’ uniform choice that could see mum lose her job