Students wait for A-level, T-level and BTec results

Pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will open A Level, T Level and BTec results this morning.

It is the first time since 2019 that high school grades have been based on public exams after two years of cancellation due to Covid.

Overall high school grades are expected to be lower than in 2020 and 2021, when grades based on teacher reviews led to a boom in top grades.

Ofqual said the results would reflect “a halfway point” between 2019 and 2021.

England’s exams watchdog previously stated “in the interest of fairness… 2022 will be a transitional year to reflect that we are in a period of recovery from the pandemic and pupils’ education has been disrupted”.

Similar plans have been drawn up for Northern Ireland and Wales.

In Scotland, where pupils received their exam results on August 9, the pass rate at the higher level fell to 78.9% – down from 87.3% in 2021.

The results for AS levels will also be published on Thursday. In Wales and Northern Ireland these count towards a pupil’s final A Level result next summer.

This is also the first year of results for new T-level professional qualifications in England. Each T-Level is designed to correspond to three A-Levels.

To achieve the technical qualification, time is split between face-to-face classes and industrial internships – with students being awarded a Passport, Merit, Distinction or Commendation* after two years of work and study.

Praise, who is 18 and a student at Central Saint Michael’s Sixth Form in Birmingham, planned to spend Wednesday night chatting with her family, watching films and trying not to get too stressed ahead of results day.

She will receive A-Level results in History and English Literature and a Level 3 BTec in Health and Social Care.

She is one of around 200,000 students to receive their Level 3 BTec results.

“What’s done is done,” she tells the BBC. “I can’t change what I wrote on the exam.”

After missing the GCSE exams due to Covid, Praise was happy that the exams were back in person this year.

“I wanted to write my own exams, get my own grades, and see that it was my hard work that got me to this moment,” she says.

Praise has conditional offers to study at university but is hoping to do a gap year and apply to join the RAF as a registered nurse.

“I’ve always had an interest in the military and caring about people…this is my chance to combine those two things.”

Special measures have been introduced for this year’s Abitur to counteract the disruption in education caused by Covid, such as extended information on subjects.

And the class limits – the number of points required for each class – are softer this year than they were before the pandemic.

Overall, the Abitur grades are likely to be worse than in the previous year. This is more due to the adjustment of the system to the sharp increase in top grades in the last two years and not to individual student performance.

The grades are said to continue to be higher than in 2019.

For some students looking to enter university, it will be a competitive year.

According to the university admissions agency Ucas, there are more 18-year-olds in the population this year, and a slightly higher percentage of them are applying for university places.

The fiercest competition is for places at the most academically selective universities. They’ve been more cautious about the number of offers they’ve made this year after a bulging couple of years as top marks multiplied in 2020 and 2021.

Competition for places is also likely to be high for certain majors — including some heavily subsidized majors, such as medicine, which are reinstating student enrollment caps this year.

Overall, however, Ucas has predicted that “a record or near-record number” of teenagers will make their first choice.

In a letter to students, written in conjunction with examinations board Ofqual, Ucas said universities know how grades are awarded this year and advised students not to be overly concerned that lower grades will put them at a disadvantage would.

“In 2019, when the tests were last held, around three-quarters of UK 18-year-old applicants were placed in their first choice. On Results Day this year, UCAS again anticipates that most students will secure their spot on their first choice,” the letter stated.

Do you need to reconsider your plans after getting your results? Share your experiences with us by email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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