A-level results predicted to return to pre-Covid state after last year's high

Students in England are expected to receive A-level grades that are closer to normal for the first time since the Covid pandemic triggered school closures and exam cancellations.

- Richard Adams

The grades will more closely resemble those given in 2019, before the pandemic, with the proportion of A* to E grades linked to national results from the GCSE exams taken by the same pupils two years ago.

While most of the students who sat A-levels this spring were affected by pandemic disruption during their early years at secondary school, they will be the first group to have gone through their exam years without major turbulence.

The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has pledged to make a priority of tackling white working-class students falling behind their peers in the year ahead. The government will set out its plans for the challenge in a schools white paper in the autumn, she added.

Prof Alan Smithers, of Buckingham University's centre for education and employment research, said 2024's A-level grades were unexpectedly high in England, which could have echoes in this year's outcomes.

"A-level grades have a chance to settle down this year after the volatility of Covid and its aftermath. They are likely to be close to last year's, where top grades were a percentage point or two above pre-Covid levels. This may not sound very much but, in fact, was an extra 14,200 A*s and 21,300 A*-As," Smithers said.