Official Statistics

Background information for entries and late entries for GCSE, AS and A level: 2022 to 2023 academic year

Published 9 November 2023

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/entries-and-late-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-2022-to-2023-academic-year/background-information-for-entries-and-late-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-2022-to-2023-academic-year

1. Purpose

This statistical release presents statistics on the number of entries, late entries and certifications for GCSE, AS and A level for the November 2022 series and June 2023 series, and historical data going back to 2019.

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), a membership organisation comprising eight providers of qualifications in the UK, including those awarding GCSE, AS and A level, publishes on behalf of the exam boards deadlines by which entries should be made. If an entry is made after the deadline, it is classed as late and may be subject to an additional charge.

2. Geographical coverage

This report presents data on entries, late entries and certifications for GCSE, AS and A level in England.

3. Description

Four exam boards offered GCSE, AS and A level qualifications in England during the time period covered in this release:

  • AQA Education (AQA)
  • Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR)
  • Pearson Education Ltd. (Pearson)
  • WJEC-CBAC Ltd. (WJEC/Eduqas)

Schools, colleges and other exam centres are responsible for submitting entries to exam boards for GCSE, AS and A level on behalf of their students. In this statistical release, entries are counted separately for each component that makes up a qualification. An entry, therefore, is counted as a student being entered for an individual assessment, whereas certifications refer to the overall qualification. In summer 2020 and summer 2021, although entries continued to be made at the component level, students received centre assessed grades (or calculated grades if higher) or teacher assessed grades, respectively, at qualification level.

4. External influences

There are various factors which might have influenced the entries for GCSE, AS and A level in recent years:

4.1 Coronavirus (Covid-19)

In the academic years 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021 summer exams did not take place due to the pandemic. An exceptional autumn exam series was put in place in the academic years 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022.

Exams and other formal assessments took place in the 2021 to 2022 academic year and adaptations were put in place for GCSE, AS and A level qualifications.

Exams and formal assessments continued to go ahead in the 2022 to 2023 academic year, with some additional support.

These arrangements might have affected entry figures. Further detail on the arrangements during these academic years can be found in the Annual Qualifications Market Report Background notes for the 2020 to 2021 academic year and the Annual Qualifications Market Report Background notes for the 2021 to 2022 academic year.

4.2 AS and A level

Reformed A levels in England are linear qualifications and therefore entries are counted at component level. Modular qualifications, such as many of the legacy qualifications, are counted at unit level. These differences may affect patterns of entry due to potentially differing numbers of units and components for each qualification across legacy and reformed A levels. From 2020 reformed A levels were available in all subjects.

In addition to this, reformed A levels in England differ from legacy qualifications in that the results of the AS qualification do not count towards a student’s A level grade. As such, there is no requirement for students to enter the AS components or certificate at AS in a given subject, as they do not count towards the A level.

These structural changes are likely to have been the key factor in a substantial decline in AS entries (and therefore total AS and A level entries) since the introduction of reformed AS and A levels from 2016 onwards.

4.3 GCSE

Reformed GCSEs started to be phased in for first teaching from 2015 with the first results issued for English language, English literature and mathematics in 2017. From 2020 all 53 reformed GCSEs were available.

Reformed GCSEs are linear qualifications, therefore entries to reformed GCSEs are counted at component level. Legacy GCSEs differ in that they tended to be modular and therefore entries were counted at unit level. This may have had an impact on patterns of entry due to differing numbers of units and components across legacy and reformed GCSE qualifications.

Since August 2015, full time students who have not achieved a grade 4 (prior to 2017 a grade C) or above in mathematics and English language or English literature GCSEs have to continue studying mathematics and/or English language in order to be funded post-16.

5. Data source

Exam boards send data on entries and late entries as well as on the certificates they award in GCSEs, AS and A levels to Ofqual for each exam series.

6. Limitations

There is potential for error in the information provided by exam boards, therefore Ofqual cannot guarantee that the information received is correct. Ofqual compares the data over time and checks for systematic issues. Summary data are sent back to exam boards for checking and confirmation.

7. Quality assurance

Quality assurance procedures are carried out as explained in the Quality Assurance Framework for Statistical Publications published by Ofqual to ensure the accuracy of the data and to challenge or question it, where necessary. Publication may be deferred if the statistics are not considered fit for purpose.

8. Revisions

Once published, data are not usually subject to revision, although subsequent releases may be revised to insert late data or to correct an error.

9. Confidentiality and rounding

To ensure confidentiality of the published accompanying data, figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. If the value is less than 5, it is represented as “fewer than 5” and 0 represents zero entries.

As a result of rounded figures, the percentages (calculated on actual figures) shown in any tables may not necessarily add up to 100.

10. Status

These statistics are classified as official statistics.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly at data.analytics@ofqual.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

A number of other statistical releases relate to this one, including:

For any related publications for qualifications offered in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland please contact the respective regulators – Qualifications Wales, CCEA and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)

13. Feedback

We welcome your feedback on our publications. Should you have any comments on this statistical release and how to improve it to meet your needs please contact us at data.analytics@ofqual.gov.uk.

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