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How many people get 3 A*s or more at A-level?

Is there any national table where you can find some stats like this?

On TSR if you look at the various uni applicants stalking pages, it seems like a significant percent get a couple of A*s or more (or at least predicted)

so is there any way of finding out what the national average is?

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Reply 1

tehforum

FML.

I bet only <1% get it.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

Benniboi1

Original post by tehforum

Working hard.

I asked how many, not how to :wink:

Reply 3

A-haaa

The national average is is 3457 GBP per capita.

Reply 4

Benniboi1

Original post by A-haaa

whats GBP? :smile:

.. ah i thought so

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 5

LETSJaM

Original post by Benniboi1

whats GBP? :smile:

Great British Pounds. The person was being facetious.

<3 x

Reply 6

englishmad

I don't know but I would suggest that you ignore the stats on TSR as I would not say it is representative of all british students. Also bear in mind that a couple of months ago there was a news story about how only 10% of predictions are right etc.

Reply 7

Benniboi1

anyone with a helpful answer? :P

Reply 8

Benniboi1

Original post by englishmad

yeah that's why I was wondering it. That doesn't surprise me though, but I doubt theres many more students under achieving their predicted grades than over achieving them.

Reply 9

cdoyle

Original post by tehforum

Working hard.

Thats been tried and didnt work.

Reply 10

IPlayThePiccolo

Guy from our college got 4 one year.

Reply 11

cdoyle

Original post by Benniboi1

yeah that's why I was wondering it. That doesn't surprise me though, but I doubt theres many more students under achieving their predicted grades than over achieving them.

like me. so annoyed I worked so hard for my first sit of the exams but worked less when I repeated in the next exam series and got my predicted grades that time. somethings not right here?

Reply 12

Benniboi1

Original post by cdoyle

like me. so annoyed I worked so hard for my first sit of the exams but worked less when I repeated in the next exam series and got my predicted grades that time. somethings not right here?

haha I feel your pain, worked harder for my first set of exams last jan than I did for the ones just past or the one's in june but my results in june were ten times better :tongue:

Reply 13

Kartace

I was predicted ABB and rejected from all my choices last year for dentistry because of it. I actually got A*A*A... something is very wrong with our predictions system and i've been on the crappy end of it, most of the time they're glorified guesses designed to tick a box in an application rather than be a true reflection of what the applicant in question is truely capable of.

Bring on the new system if you ask me.

Reply 14

bhogs001

Original post by Benniboi1

anyone with a helpful answer? :P

I got 3A*s, but then i woke up.

Reply 15

Obfuscator

Bear in mind on the student room that people with more 'average' (even if still good) grades are going to be less likely to post them online than the multiple A* club, because yah know, if you've got it, flaunt it. On lots of AAB courses and stuff on all the applicants threads all the users are like 'predicted A*A*A*' etc. when if everyone on the course got those kind of grades, the entry requirements would reflect it.

The whole idea of the A* was to separate the super good from the good. It would be utterly pointless if everyone got straight A*s. I think, though I can't be sure, around 10% of all Alevels are A*s, meaning that roughly one in three people will get one A*. (Obviously it's not as simple as that: There'll be schools at which no one gets A*s and others have most of their students achieving straight As and A*s, but it should give you an idea)

I don't have any evidence to prove it but I'd be willing to bet there's more straight A*s in maths/science students than in any other area. Moat people I know who have got 3, 4 or 5 A*s have done Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Biology. It's not that these subjects are easier, it's just that some people have a mind for it which means at least at A level it's kinda easy. I only know two people predicted A*A*A* for none-mathsy/sciencey subjects, whereas I can think of several who are applying to medicine or maths or physics et al.

Reply 16

somethingbeautiful

Original post by Benniboi1

anyone with a helpful answer? :P

Spoiler

Government A-level data (search by region):

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/group.pl?qtype=GR&f=MVa1PhOftn&superview=p16&view=&sort=l_schname&ord=asc

Helpful: http://www.education.gov.uk/performancetables/16to18_05/howtoread.shtml

This article from 2011 claims that the national average for A* is 8% and national average for A is 18%

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9210795.A_levels_results_exceed_national_average/

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 17

Benniboi1

Original post by Obfuscator

That's true, I don't think the A* grade has been used that well though, if I was a UKMC (or whatever the UK Maths Challenge is called..) I'd want only the very top to get an A* in maths, but I'm predicted an A* in maths and taking the grade at face value, if I achieved it, would suggest I am of the same ability as them, which isn't true.

I think the fact Maths, FM and Physics are extremely similar in terms of content makes 3 A* in them probably the highest combination of A*s. I would think that getting an A* in English lang is a lot different (requires different abilities) than A* in English Lit would in comparison to maths and further maths

Reply 18

Benniboi1

Original post by somethingbeautiful

GCSE's nationally:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16730017

A-Levels are trickier to find info for (no idea why). I can find Local Authority Data but not overall national data.

Liverpool for example:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/education/school_tables/secondary/11/html/341.stm

Government A-level data (search by region):

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/group.pl?qtype=GR&f=MVa1PhOftn&superview=p16&view=&sort=l_schname&ord=asc

Helpful: http://www.education.gov.uk/performancetables/16to18_05/howtoread.shtml

This article from 2011 claims that the national average for A* is 8% and national average for A is 18%

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9210795.A_levels_results_exceed_national_average/

thanks for that! :smile:

the average points score for my sixth form was 630 points, (300 points for an A*, 270 for an A..) so theoretically, the average grades, assuming everyone did 3 A-levels, would be 630/3 = 210 points for each Alevel, which is basically 3 C's... do uni's ever compare a students predicted grades to the average at their college?

I know the Oxbridge compare how many A*'s at GCSE you get with what the average was for your school, but what about A-level comparisons?

Reply 19

Obfuscator

Original post by Benniboi1

I think the fact Maths, FM and Physics are extremely similar in terms of content makes 3 A* in them probably the highest combination of A*s. I would think that getting an A* in English lang is a lot different (requires different abilities) than A* in English Lit would in comparison to maths and further maths

I think that's true to an extent, but now I think about it, within the essay subjects, a lot of it comes down to essay writing skill. The people I know who get the really top marks in essay subjects like History and Englit are usually not the ones who are actually the best in the class, but they're the ones who know exactly what the examiner wants and somehow articulate it every time, despite paying little attention in class a lot of the time haha. This is the biggest flaw in the exam system, but somewhat off what you were originally talking about ahaha