A Level Grades Fall for First time in 30 Years

If you got your exam results this morning, and they were better than you had predicted, feel very happy - the overall A-level pass rate in the UK - UAE figures are not published - has fallen for the first time in more than 30 years. According to statistics released today while a higher proportion of students achieved the highest grade – A* – the percentage of students achieving all other grades slightly fell. In total 8.2% of exam entries were awarded an A* – a rise of 0.6 percentage points compared with 2013. The proportion achieving A* to E dropped from 98.1% to 98%. This makes local achievement all the more special. WhichSchoolAdvisor.com will now begin the task of updating its reviews with the latest A level grades. At Dubai British School 91 per cent of all students obtained A-B grades this year, 25 per cent of which were A* or A - very good results indeed. On trend however this represents a slight dip - in 2013, 33% of DBS student grades were A* or A (with the UK average of 26.3%). According to GEMs Education, its schools have bucked the trend and increased overall performance in the 2014 A Level examinations. 32 per cent of its students received A*-A, against the UK National Average of 26 per cent. 58 per cent of students achieved A* - B across the GEMS Schools offering the National Curriculum for England, against 52.4 per cent in England. At The Winchester School, Jebel Ali 31.9 per cent of students obtained A* - A, 6 per cent above the National Average in England. In Abu Dhabi, at The Cambridge High School 32 per cent of students achieved A*-A while 60 per cent of students achieved A*- B. Also in Abu Dhabi Al Yasmina School received a 100 per cent pass rate, with more than 50 per cent of the students achieving A* to B scores and more than 30 per cent scoring A to A*.  According to UK press reports, officials have attributed the improvement in the proportion gaining an A* to it becoming a "key grade for the highest-performing students" looking to get into top universities.