NI pupils remain at top in A-level results

Northern Ireland A-level students have continued to stay a step ahead of their peers in England and Wales, today's results have revealed.

Since last year, the overall pass rate of A-E grades has risen to 97.7%, with the percentage of entries achieving A grades rising by 1.2% to 32.4%, driven in the main, by excellent performances in mathematics, languages and sciences.

This compares favourably to the national figure, where grades have risen by 1.3% to 24.1%.

Speaking on the improvement at the top grade Neil Anderson, Director of Operations at CCEA, said: “We’ve taken a close look at what has been driving the rise in A grades this year. What we have found is very strong performances in the areas of mathematics, languages and sciences. “Indeed these areas make up nine of the top ten performing subjects at the A grade. Strong showings in subjects such as mathematics, biology and physics have contributed greatly to the top line figure we’re seeing today.”

Boys are also continuing to close the gap on girls, outperforming them at the A grade in Biology, Economics, English, Irish, Further Maths and Technology.

This differs considerably from the national picture where boys only do better in one area – modern languages.

Overall there is a decrease of 0.2% in the gender difference at A – E grades, which means that the gap on performance at the overall pass rate is just 0.4%.

However while boys improved their performance at the top A grade, girls did too and opened up the gap a little further by 0.9% to 3.9%.

Commenting on the release of results information Mr Anderson, said: “A Levels continue to hold their place as very popular top class qualifications, highly regarded by students, teachers, universities and employers. Congratulations to all of the thousands of candidates receiving their results this morning after much hard work and study. We wish them well as they go on to further their studies or seek employment.”

GCSE results are due to be released on August 22.

(EF)