GCSE results at the top grades have fallen in Wales as exam bosses try to rein back on “grade inflation” with the first set of sat papers for three years. Grades were assessed by teachers in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic.
Just over one in four candidates (25.1%) achieved the top A*-A grades this year and nearly one in seven (68.6%) achieved A* to C. The top A*-A grades achieved were down from a high of 28.7% in 2021 but significantly up on 2019 when exams were last sat. Girls did better than boys at all levels, outperforming boys at A* and A by 7.1 percentage points. More than one in 10 (11.4%) achieved the best A* grade, two percentage points down on last year.
It was a similar picture in England where 27% of pupils got a Grade 7 or higher (the equivalent of A or higher in Wales), and 73.2% of pupils got a Grade 4 or higher (the equivalent of a C or higher in Wales). These figures were lower than in 2021 but higher than before the pandemic.
