Live! 2021 A Level and BTEC Results Revealed

We're publishing A Level and BTEC results as they come in as the WhichSchoolAdvisor.com team is all hands to bring you the latest 2021 results live!

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The Full Results Table (so far....)
Dubai British School Emirates Hills
GEMS FirstPoint School
Dubai College
GEMS Wellington Academy Al Khail
GEMS Metropole School
Al Yasmina Academy
Al Ain Academy
Horizon International School
Brighton College Al Ain
Brighton College Abu Dhabi
British School Al Khubairat
Cranleigh Abu Dhabi
Cambridge International School Dubai
The Cambridge High School Abu Dhabi
GEMS Founders School Dubai
GEMS Wellington Academy Dubai Silicon Oasis
The Winchester School Jebel Ali
Jumeirah College
GEMS Westminster School Sharjah
Wesgreen International School Sharjah
The English College Dubai
Sunmarke School
GEMS Winchester School Dubailand
GEMS Westminster School Dubai
GEMS Westminster School Ras Al Khaimah
Our Own English High School Al Ain
Safa Community School
Dubai English Speaking College
Raffles International School
The Sheffield Private School
Kent College Dubai
Dubai Scholars Private School
Sharjah English School
The formula for the 2021 results

The first school to reveal its A Level results to WhichSchoolAdvisor.com this morning was Dubai British School Emirates Hills. This year, 71 students were entered for 170 exams including four students who were entered for AS Level examinations. Almost 1/5 (19%) of exam entries achieved the top award of A*, with a further 54% of all entries achieving A*-A grades, and 96% being awarded A*-C. Every exam entry was awarded a pass and the overall pass rate for the school was 100%.  The highest achievement was an award of four A Levels at A* by an individual student.

DBS also had 21 students who were entered for BTEC examinations and we hope that their results will also be shared with us.

The second school to provide its results was GEMS FirstPoint School. In 2021, 47 students were entered for 145 exams. 18% of entries were awarded A* grades,  46% achieved A*-A, 90% of entries achieved A*-C and 100% of entries were awarded A*- E - another 100% pass rate!  The highest award for an individual student was again 4 results at A*.  Two further students achieved 3 awards at A* and an A, and two were awarded 3 A* results.

FPS also had a cohort of 4 students who were entered for the BTEC Level 3 qualification. Two students achieved awards of Distinction, whilst the two other members of the cohort were awarded a Pass result.

Dubai College once again provided details of its students' results, which included one of the largest cohorts and highest levels of awards. Stand out students included Sourav Roy –  who achieved 5 A* grades in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Music plus an A* in his EPQ. 13 other students achieved a full house of A* grades in all four of their chosen subjects. 16 further students achieved a full house of A* grades in all three of their chosen subjects. A considerable proportion of students entered the fields of Medicine, Law, Engineering, Business, Economics or Finance. However, the more 'academic' fields for which DC students are known, were not the only courses chosen. In addition, students will be studying a diverse range of courses including Comparative Literature and International Relations, Fashion Management, East Asian Studies with Studio Art and Earth Sciences among many others. 

GEMS Wellington Academy Al Khail's 31 students were entered for a total of 91 exams. Over a quarter were graded A*, with 52% being awarded A*-A, and 78% receiving A*-B grades. The school did not provide further data in regard to pass rates.

Meanwhile, GEMS Metropole School (pictured in our cover photo) had a slightly higher number of students, with 42 entered for a total of 123 examinations. 1 in 5 entries was awarded an A*, whilst 41% were awarded A*-A and 89% A*-C.

A special success story for the school, is that of  Ui-Kyeom (David) Hwang, who arrived at GEMS Metropole School from South Korea in 2017 with very little English. On top of learning a new language, David went on to achieve an A* grade in A-Level Maths, B grade in A-Level Physics and a C grade in A-Level Chemistry. He is will attend Handong University South Korea to study Computer Engineering.

Aldar Academies, Al Yasmina Academy and Al Ain Academy also reported some of their results, noting that there had been a 100% pass rate, with nearly 50% of grades awarded achieving A*-A across all subjects. Al Yasmina Academy celebrates its highest ever A-level results with 48% of grades awarded at A*-A, and over three quarters (77%) at A*-B.  Al Ain Academy also achieved 59% of grades at A*-A.

Back in Dubai, Horizon International School celebrated its first ever A Level results of its small but successful cohort of 11 students who all succeeded in achieving their A Level passes. 28% of awards were at A*, 64% A*-A, 91% at A*-C with a 100% of awards at A*-E. The high achievers included Ahmed Elgaradiny who achieved A Level results of A*, A*, A* in Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics, Aia Amir El Khag and Talia Aldarrai who both achieved A*, A*, A in their A Level subjects and Muhammed Vally who was awarded A*, A, B. Entries for Science A Levels achieved a 100% pass rate with 100% A*-A grades in Chemistry, 50% B and above in Physics, and 50% B and above in Biology. A Level Business Studies entries were awarded 100% A*-B grades, whilst in English Literature,and Mathematics, 75% of students attained A-A* and in Psychology, a popular choice, entries were awarded 100% A*-C grades, whilst A Level Media entries attained 50% A grades.

The two Brighton Colleges in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi also shared the successes of their students. With both cohorts achieving 100% success rates, 24 students at Brighton College Al Ain achieved awards of 47% of exam entries at A*, 75% at A*-A and 97% at A*-C with 4 A* grades achieved by the highest scoring student. 

At the Abu Dhabi Brighton College campus, 67 students were entered for 215 exams. 28.8% of results were at A*, 63.3% at A* -A and 95.8% at A*-C. The highest achieving students received 4 passes at A*.

Also in Abu Dhabi, the British School Al Khubairat recorded its highest results, with its cohort of 98 students, who were entered 269 exams, being awarded a quarter of all grades at A*, over half (52%) at A*-A, 93% at A*-C and 99% at A*-E. Four students achieved exceptional 4 * grades including Solal Afota and Vedant Khanna who will  both study Maths and Computer Science at Stanford University, William Hargreaves who will be studying Physics and Astrophysics at Manchester University, and Kartik Raina, who is going to the University of Bath to take Economics. 29 students received 3 or more A*-A grades.

BSAK is one of the most popular schools in the UAE for BTEC Level 3 qualifications with a cohort of 19 students this year. 76% of entries achieved the highest award of  Distinction*, whilst the remaining 24% of entries were awarded Distinction.

Also in Abu Dhabi, Cranleigh reported its results for the 35 students in its A Level cohort.  35 students were awarded 49% of entries at A*, 70% at A*-A and 94% at A*-C. There was a 100% pass rate. The highest achieving students were Lydia Sanz Lozano, Jasmine Hewartson and Ethan Chen Tesdale who all achieved 4 A* grades. Jasmine Hewartson also achieved an A* for her EPQ, having already achieved an Outstanding Achievement Award from Cambridge Exam Board, in 2019. She will attend Cambridge University. Jaiden Matharu achieved A* for his EPQ and 3 A*at A level. He will study at New York University Abu Dhabi.

Cambridge International School Dubai, with 167 students who were entered for 489 exams, achieved  22.5% of results at A*, 41.5% at A*-B and 67.3% at A*-B. One of the highest achievers was Atharv Pramod Naik who was awarded 5 A*s. Atharv will be going on to study at Imperial college London, UK Bio-engineering and Management. A further 7 students achieved 4 A* awards.

Back in Abu Dhabi, The Cambridge High School reported that its 89 students had been entered for 270 examinations. 43 entries from twenty students (15.9%) were awarded A*, whilst 44.8% of entries achieved A*-A and 65.2% were graded A*-B.

GEMS Founders School Dubai also reported their A Level results, informing us that 34 students were entered for 99 examinations. 16 entries were graded at A* (16.2%), whilst 40 were awarded A*-A (40.4%) and 64 results (64.6%) were at A*-B. 10 students received grades at A*.

Dubai-based GEMS Wellington Academy Dubai Silicon Oasis entered its first cohort of 15 students for A Levels this year, which is now offered in addition to the IB Diploma programme and BTEC qualifications.  The students were entered for a total of 45 exams, with close to one quarter (24.4%) of entries being awarded A*, whilst 57.8% were awarded A*-A and over three-quarters (75.6%) were awarded A*-B.  A third of the students (5) were awarded one or more A* grades. The school confirmed that "the majority of the graduating class have secured a place at their desired universities".

Highlights included Talha Nawaz, who achieved four A* grades, in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Further Mathematics and will be attending Carleton University, Canada, to study Aerospace Engineering.  Aliya Mubasher was awarded 3A* grades for English Literature, Psychology, and Business Studies and will be attending the University of Nottingham, to study Law.

19 students were entered for the Level 3 BTEC qualifications of whom five gained the highest possible grade of Triple Distinction Star. 

At one of the older UK curriculum GEMS schools, the The Winchester School Jebel Ali, staff, students and families are celebrating this year's results. 125 students were entered for a total of 392 exams and recorded 26.3% of results at A*. A*-A grades were awarded to 56.6% of all entries, with over three-quarters of awards (77.8%) being at A*-B. 52 students achieved at least one A* result. 

And in a GEMS Education announcement, results were published for Jumeirah College, where 128 students were entered for 400 exams. 30.3% were awarded A*, whilst over 70% (70.8%) were awarded A*-A.  94.5% of entries achieved A*-B with 64 student being awarded A* grades for at least one subject.

Five students each achieved four A* grades. Nour Emara will be going to Kings College London, to read Psychology; Varun Mittal will be heading further afield to University of California Berkeley, to study Economics and Computer Science; Myome Mortimer-Davies will be joining the Royal Northern College of Music; Harishankar Shikkulal will also be heading to London to Imperial College, to read Mechanical Engineering, and 
Ibrahim Yusufali will also be off to the US to Duke University, to study Computer Science and Economics.

At GEMS Westminster School – Sharjah, 51% of entries were awarded A* and 86% were awarded A* to B. Wesgreen International School, also in Sharjah, entered a cohort of 37 students for 97 exams and recorded results for 39.2% of entries at A*, 53.6% at A*-A and 72% at A* to B.  24 students achieved at least one pass at A*.

The English College Dubai, one of the first schools in the city to offer A Levels, shared an impressive set of results again this year. 79 students were entered for a total of 231 exams and the results awarded included 28% at A*, 54% at A*-A, 94% at A*-C and a 100% pass rate. Highlights included Naqiyah Nalwala who achieved 4A* grades at A level, whilst Angelina Bell, Aditi Khamath, Prerana Rao and Mina Wahib each achieved 3A* grades at A level plus EPQ A*.

In addition to the A Level and AS level students ( where 16% of the AS Level cohort achieved straight A grades and 43% achieved straight A-B grades), EC also had a cohort of BTEC students. 15 students were entered for 26 Level 3 BTEC awards and over two thirds (69%) achieved a Distinction*, whilst 15% achieved Distinction, 4% Merit, and 12% Pass awards. Several students entered both BTEC and A Level. The star performer in this group was Tyler Wilson who achieved D*D*D* in BTEC and a B grade at A level.

Sunmarke School announced the results for its A Level students where 50 students were entered for 133 exams. A full 30% of entries were awarded A*, whilst 60% achieved A*-B and 98% were awarded A*-C.  All 50 students passed their exams with the highest achiever receiving 4 grades at A*. 

Sunmarke also had a cohort of BTEC students who again all passed their exams. A cohort of 19 students were entered for 29 exams and one-fifth of entries were awarded the top grade of Distinction*.  57% of entries were awarded Distinction, whilst a further 6% achieved Merit and all entries were successful. 

Four further GEMS schools released their results to WhichSchoolAdvisor.com. At GEMS Winchester School Dubailand, the school's first cohort of 17 were entered for 49 exams. 2% of entries achieved A*, whilst 14.3% were awarded A*-A and 38.8% were awarded A*-B. GEMS' The Westminster School Dubai also reported the results of its cohort of 84 students who together entered for 243 exams. 24.7% of entries were awarded A*, whilst 51.9% achieved A*-A and 86% were awarded A*-B. 

In Ras Al Khaimah,GEMS Westminster School also reported the achievements of its cohort of 30 students who entered 91 exams. 7.5% of entries were awarded A*, 18.8% achieved A*-A and over half of all results (52.5%) were awarded A*-B. 

Finally, there was a strong performance from the A Level students at Our Own English High School in Al Ain. A cohort of 32 students were entered for 91 exams. Close to one in three entries (28.6%) were awarded A*, whilst over half (51.6%) were graded A*-B and almost 70% (69.2%) earned an A*-B rating.

There was much anticipation at Safa Community School as the first A Level cohort of 14 students received their results. The 44 exam entries were awarded 13% of results at A*,  48% at A*-A, 68% at A*-B, 95% at A*-C and there was a 100% pass rate.  1 in 5 students in the Year 13 cohort achieved A*/A in all three subjects. Among the subjects taken, Arabic and Computer Science entries were awarded 100% A*-B, Psychology entries achieved 100% A*-A, French 67% A*-A, whilst 83% of Physics, 75% of Mathematics and 67% of  English entries were awarded A*-B.

In addition to A Levels, Safa Community students were also entered for AS Level and BTEC examinations. The pass rate for all AS subjects and grades was 76% A-B with a 100% pass at A-B for  Mathematics, with 75% of all grades at A. In Psychology 100% of results were at A, Chemistry results were 75% A-B, Biology results were 63% A’s, Physics results 75% A-B, History 100% A-B, and in Computer Science, nearly a third of all grades achieved were A’s.

A cohort of 10 students were entered for the BTEC qualification with 15% of entries awarded Distinction*, 30% awarded Distinction and 55% awarded Merit.

Dubai English Speaking College also had much to celebrate.  With a cohort of 209 students - the largest cohort of which we are aware - 22% of all entries received an A* grade, whilst 57% of entries at A*-A, 84% A*B, 97% A*-C and a 100% pass rate. The most successful student achieved a remarkable 4 A* and 1A. 

DESC is also the school with the highest number of BTEC students in its cohort this year.  44 students entered the Level 3 BTEC qualification and achieved a 100% pass rate. 51% of awards were at Distinction*, 80% at Distinction or higher, and 95% at Merit of higher.

Raffles International School has announced their results, stating that "50% of all grades were at A*/A and the percentage of Grade A*-B rose by a massive 25%".  The school also said that a third of their A Level cohort achieved 3 Grade As or above this year.

At The Sheffield Private School, Principal Roger Hancock was delighted with "some exceptional performances" this year.  The Al Nadha located school shared that 47% of A Level exam entries were graded A*-A and 89% A*-C.  The overall pass rate (A*-E) was 100%.

Kent College Dubai had one of the smaller A Level cohorts, with 13 students anxiously waiting their results. In the end they had little to worry about. No grades were a fail, 97% of grades were A* to C, 83% A* to B, 51% A* to A, and 14% of all grades were A*. Stand out students included Salvador Palacios with two A*s and an A who heads off to Charles University's Faculty of Medicine in Prage, and James Awinyo, whose grades of A* and 3 As secures his place at the University of British Columbia to study engineering! 

Dubai Scholars Private School yet again proved that success at A Levels does not require big fees. In total, 16% of grades were A* (unusually, a small fall over last year), but impressively, 63% were A* to A - a score outperforming many of its (more expensive) peers. 94% of grades were A* to C. Just 2% of exams taken were not pass grades.

At Sharjah English School - the only not-for-profit UK curriculum school in the emirate - students once again proved their dedication to academic achievement, with a cohort of 24 students achieving 26% of exam entries graded A* (double that of 2020), 51% of entries at A*-A (an improvement from 38% last year) and 96% of entries achieving A* to C grades, compared with 85% a year ago.  Students also achieved a 100% pass rate from grades A*-E.

The Results Table A-Z

The Results Table, A* ranking (highest to lowest)

How the results were arrived at

After a second year without examinations taking place as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, this year’s results have been calculated based solely on Teacher Assessed Grades.

However, with no clear “formula” for calculation, there are concerns about the disparity of results between schools and their students and about grade inflation, putting pressure on the university admissions system, and universities and places of further education more generally.

Almost two in five A-levels - 38.5% - were awarded an A* or A last year compared with 25.5% for entrants in 2019, when the Department of Education's Qualifications Agency, Ofqual, was forced to make a U-turn in the original marking process which involved a controversial algorithm designed to prevent grade inflation.

It is thought that exam grade inflation could be even higher this year than last – when, for the first time in the 70-year history of A-levels, the pass rate reached 100 per cent. 

Universities, who received the results last week from the Examination Boards, are already suggesting that this year's grades will, on average, be one grade higher than last by comparison.

And it seems that these predictions have borne out by results just published in the UK which show that almost 45% of all A Level entries in England were awarded the top grades of A* and A, compared with 38.1% in 2020. Overall 88.2% of the 750,000 entries received A*-C grades - similar to the figure for 2020 which was 87.5%.

There was clear evidence from the 2021 IB results, announced in July, that many schools' students had been awarded significantly higher average scores than last year and 2019, when students last sat examinations.  The average diploma score for the May 2021 session was 32.99 points, up from 31.34 in May 2020 and 29.62 in 2019.

Perhaps the most significant sign of grade inflation was the number of students achieving 40-45 points (the highest tier, which historically has been awarded to only 3% of students globally) which rose to 15,513, up from 9,701 last year - an increase of over one-third. 

And yet, the IB results were based not solely on Centre/Teacher Assessed Grades, but partially on assessments that had been submitted, and marked by IB Examiners. A Levels do not generally have this second process of evaluation, being fully-examined in almost all subjects.

One of the side-effects of this situation is an increasing probability that, in future, some universities will require students to sit additional entrance exams in order to 'double-check' the veracity of assessed outcomes, particularly since regulators expect further grade inflation in 2022, since many students will not have completed their first year of post-16 studies under normal circumstances, and this factor will also need to be taken into account.

So, on the one hand, whilst we may expect to see schools and students celebrating the highest ever results, how this will impact university place availability remains to be seen - particularly for the most competitive (and numerically capped) courses such as Medicine and Dentistry.