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TOP GRADES FOR BRITAIN'S GCSE PUPILS
Pupils celebrate getting their GCSE results at Manchester High School for Girls
By Emily Garnham for express.co.uk
BRITAIN’S teenagers notched up record GCSE results today, with two thirds of students awarded top grades.
Youngsters nationwide have reason to celebrate this morning after a fifth of all candidates scored an A* or A grade in their exams.
More than 65.7 per cent of 16-year-olds were awarded grades A* to C, up from 63.3 per cent last year.
The rises come despite the number of entries for the exams dipping to a five-year low at more than 5.6 million entries this summer compared with 5.8 million in 2007.
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Laura Deslandes celebrates getting 11 A*s in her GCSE results
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The Joint Council for Qualifications, who released the national GCSE results today, said this was due to a decrease in the number of 16-year-olds and evidence of pupils being entered early for GCSE English and maths.
*** FIND OUT WHY A TRIO OF TEENAGE TWINS ARE CELEBRATING TODAY! ***
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This is evidence of the hard work of the students and the continued dedication of their teachers.
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Jim Sinclair, director of the JCQ, added: “Once again, we have seen a welcome increase in results at GCSE despite the lowest entry for five years.
“This is evidence of the hard work of the students and the continued dedication of their teachers.
“The core subjects at GCSE continue to dominate and still account for almost half of the full course entry.”
There was a massive slump in the numbers of pupils choosing information technology - with entries down by more than 14,000.
Modern foreign languages also took a hit, with pupils opting for French falling by 6.8 per cent since last year and German by 5.4 per cent.
*** PICTURE GALLERY: SEE GCSE STUDENTS CELEBRATE THEIR RESULTS ***
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Pupils celebrate their results at Brighton College in East Sussex
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There was also movement in the sciences, which officials put down to changes to the national curriculum.
This year the science double award was abolished and replaced by two separate qualifications - science and additional science.
While additional science wasn’t such a popular choice with British youngsters, there were increased entries in the separate sciences, with biology up by 35.3 per cent, chemistry up 29.4 per cent and physics up 29.1 per cent.
There were also small improvements in English and maths results with the overall pass rate for the proportion of teenagers scoring at least a grade G rising by 0.4 percentage points this year to 98.4 per cent.
And the North East of the country, which showed the smallest increase in A-level results last week, had reason to celebrate today.
A regional breakdown showed the North East had the greatest improvement in C grades, of 11.3 per cent.
It also had the second biggest improvement in A grades, at 5.3 per cent. Only London saw a greater increase, with 5.5 per cent.
Dr Mike Cresswell, director general of the exam board AQA, said students seemed to be focusing on fewer GCSE subjects - which could explain rising grades.
He said the average number of GCSEs taken per student had fallen from just over eight in 2003 to just under eight this year.
Another contributing factor was an increase in the number of students who took English and maths exams early, in November, and are not included in today’s figures.
GIVING THEM AWAY NOW?
21.08.08, 10:54pm
I remember when O levels and especially A levels actually meant the students had studied and learned something. Nowadays they seem to give them away to anyone.
• Posted by: BritinUSA • Report Comment
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