GCSE results 2024: Trends, Grade boundaries and more

The 2024 GCSE results have been released, revealing significant regional differences across England, while top grades in Wales and Northern Ireland have seen a decline.

Ian Bauckham, head of Ofqual, England’s exams regulator, praised the results as a return to stability, noting that 70.4% of Year 11 students achieved a grade 4 (equivalent to a C) or higher, slightly up from 70.3% in 2023 and 0.5% above 2019 levels. Bauckham remarked, “This shows we’ve re-established a pattern of reliable and trustworthy results.”

Trends

This year’s A-Level results garnered attention for an increase in top grades compared to last year and even more so compared to pre-pandemic levels. A similar trend is observed at the GCSE level, where top grades have risen slightly from 22.4% last year to 22.6% this year, both higher than the 21.9% recorded in 2019.

Grades in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland

While England’s grading is broadly consistent with last year, Wales and Northern Ireland have seen a different trend. Unlike England, where grades last year returned to near pre-pandemic levels, grades in Wales and Northern Ireland remained elevated, mirroring a similar pattern seen in last week’s A-Level results. This disparity is partly due to the fact that qualifications in Wales and Northern Ireland are not regulated by Ofqual and different policies were applied to return to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, differences in GCSE content, grading, and modularity across these regions make direct comparisons challenging.

Grade Boundaries

This summer, exam boards set grade boundaries using both quantitative data and examiner judgment, as they always do. Professional evaluators compared the quality of students’ work with that of previous years. Grade boundaries vary between exam boards and can fluctuate with each exam series, reflecting the difficulty of the assessments. Easier exam papers have higher grade boundaries, while harder ones have lower boundaries, ensuring fairness for all students. Therefore, some grade boundaries have increased compared to 2023, while others have not.