Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

A-level results day 2017 explained in four charts

From boys starting to outperform girls, to changes in subject popularity and regional differences, A-level results day in 2017 has been like no other. Here are four charts outlining the key differences

Matt Nixon
Friday 18 August 2017 11:37 BST
Comments
Thousands of students across the country receive their A-level results in August
Thousands of students across the country receive their A-level results in August (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Most popular subjects

On the whole, this year’s most popular A-level subjects stayed the same. Ranked by the total number of candidates entered into exams, Mathematics remained the most popular A-level choice with 11.5 per cent of all students studying the subject.

In second and third are Biology and Psychology, which shows no change when compared to last year’s trends.

In fact, apart from History and Chemistry, all of the top ten subjects in 2017 remained as they were in 2016. History, which was previously the fourth most popular subject to study at A-level, has dropped to fifth place and been replaced by Chemistry.

 

Least popular subjects

Some of the most unpopular subjects of the year included Irish and Critical Thinking. Respectively, the two subjects had 455 and 1,241 students out of a total cohort of over 720,000.

Though not as unpopular as subjects like German and Critical Thinking, many key subjects also noticed a severe drop in students this year.

With a whopping 39.2 per cent decline in entrants when compared to 2016, General Studies has been the most unpopular subject for A-level students this year. In 2016 over 11,500 students studied the subject, compared to only 7,147 this year.

Also unpopular in 2016 was Communication Studies, ICT and English Language & literature, which all observed a percentage difference of over -11 per cent between last year and now.

While still popular, humanities subjects such as History, English Literature and English Language [separates] all also noticed a drop in students

 

Boys vs Girls

Year on year the trend has been that girls academically outperform boys. This year however, male students have achieved more top grades than their female counterparts for the first time in 17 years.

However, girls are still tending to outperform males in creative subjects such as Drama and Art and Design which typically prove less popular with boys. By and large, males have achieved more A* and A grades in STEM field subjects such as mathematics. This is in line with 2016’s A-Level figures.

It has been speculated that boys performed better this year due to ‘tougher’ A-levels which favour exams over coursework and are not modular.

 

National differences

Students in Wales, England, and Northern Ireland have also noticed a difference in their results. As was the case in 2016, students from Northern Ireland achieved the highest percentage of A and A* grades this year. Following Northern Irish students are the English, of whom 34.5 per cent achieved A and A* grades.

This year 33.3 per cent of Welsh students achieved the very top marks. Though this is a 4 per cent improvement on last year’s student cohort, 5.2 per cent more students achieve A and A* grades in Northern Ireland.

Scotland, which uses separate exam boards and awards different qualifications, are not included in the figures.

 

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in