GCSE results 2018: Only 700 teenagers in England get clean sweep of grade 9s after major reforms - as it happened
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Your support makes all the difference.The number of students receiving the top GCSE grades rose for first time in seven years despite major reforms
The proportion of entries scoring a C or above – or a 4 under the new grading system – increased by 0.5 percentage points from 66.4 per cent last year to 66.9 per cent.
Tens of thousands of teenagers received their GCSE results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland amid major exam reforms.
Last year, the GCSE pass rates fell and the number of pupils attaining the top grades dropped to the lowest point in a decade.
Grades were awarded in the new tougher GCSE subjects – maths and English – last summer. Students in England received the new numerical grades in a further 20 subjects this year.
Headteachers have raised concerns that the new GCSE grading system sends a "demoralising message" to students who are likely to score lower results in their exams.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said it had concerns about pupils performing at the lower end of the grading scale.
"Our concern, however, is over those pupils at the other end of the scale who are taking exams which are harder than their predecessors and who have been told by the Government that a grade 4 is a 'standard pass' and a grade 5 is a 'strong pass'," Malcolm Trobe, ASCL deputy general secretary said.
"That is a very demoralising message to those who achieve grades 1, 2 and 3, and the new system does not work very well for them at all."
See below how we covered GCSE results day
Those in Wales and Northern Ireland will continue to receive their grades in the traditional A* to G format.
The new linear GCSEs – which have harder content, less coursework, and more exams at the end of two years – are now being graded using 9 to 1, rather than A* to G.
Only 732 16-year-olds in England, who took at least seven new GCSEs, scored a clean sweep of 9s in all subjects.
Ahead of GCSE results day the government's former mental health tsar has said that academic anxiety has become a greater source of stress for teenagers than concerns about body image.
Speaking of securing top grades at GCSE, Ms Devon told The Independent: “It does feel like there is more pressure on students and they feel they have to be more competitive with each other.”
As teenagers wait for their results, headteachers have raised concerns that the new grading system sends a "demoralising message" to students who are likely to score lower results in their exams.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said it had concerns about pupils performing at the lower end of the grading scale.
"Our concern, however, is over those pupils at the other end of the scale who are taking exams which are harder than their predecessors and who have been told by the Government that a grade 4 is a 'standard pass' and a grade 5 is a 'strong pass',"Malcolm Trobe, ASCL deputy general secretary said.
"That is a very demoralising message to those who achieve grades 1, 2 and 3, and the new system does not work very well for them at all.
"These young people have completed demanding programmes of study and we need to find a better way to credit their achievements."
Andy McDonald, the shadow transport secretary, is one of many parents eagerly waiting for their child's results this morning.
More than two-thirds of teenagers are concerned about the new GCSE grading system, according to a poll.
The survey also suggests nearly two-thirds do not feel the new system - which sees exams given a grade from 9-1 - will represent their grades as well as it should.
The findings of the poll, commissioned by the National Citizen Service, come on the day teenagers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland receive their GCSE results.
A reminder of what the new grading system means:
It is not easy to make comparisons between the two grading scales – apart from at three points:
- The bottom of a grade 7 is equivalent to bottom of a grade A
- The bottom of a grade 4 is equivalent to bottom of a grade C
- The bottom of a grade 1 is equivalent to bottom of a grade G
A grade 9 is the top grade and it will be harder to get than an A*
Grade boundaries are out for the exam boards:
CCEA boundaries are available here.
AQA’s boundaries can be viewed by here.
OCR is available here.
Edexce boundaries are here.
WJEC can be seen here.
Under exam board Edexcel (subject, grade 4 score, grade 7 score):
- Mathematics, 20.8%, 57.9%
- Biology, 26.5%, 56.9%
- Chemistry, 26%, 56%
- English language, 46.9%, 69.4%
- English literature, 41.9%, 68%
- Physics, 25.5%, 57.5%
- French, 33.2%, 57.1%
- German, 28.9%, 55.7%
- Spanish, 30.7%, 57.1%
Under exam board OCR (subject, grade 4 score, grade 7 score)
- English language, 41.9%, 65.6%
- English literature, 34.4%, 68.8%
- Mathematics, 20%, 54.6%
- Physics A (Gateway), 35%, 61.1%
- Physics B (Twenty First Century), 26.6%, 50%
- Religious studies, 38.5%, 61.9%
Under exam board AQA (subject, grade 4 score, grade 7 score)
- Mathematics, 19.6%, 57.5%
- Biology, 26.5%, 51%
- Chemistry, 26%, 56%
- English Language, 47.5%, 67.5%
- English Literature, 38.1%, 66.3%
- Geography, 35.3%, 57.1%
- Physics, 25.5%, 51.5%
- German, 37%, 65.8%
- French, 38.3%, 63.3%
- Spanish, 35.8%, 60.8%
- Computer Science, 48.8%, 75%
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