Daily Mail - 16.08.2019

Page 15

to lure students

The percentage of top grades being

awarded at A-level has fallen to its

lowest point in 12 years after the

exams were made tougher in order

to fight ‘dumbing down’.

Students collected their results yes-

terday and the proportion of As and

A*s dropped to 25.5 per cent – down by

0.9 per cent from 2018. It is the largest

fall since Joint Council for Qualifica-

tions records began in 2000.

experts said the drop might be par-

tially explained by the rise in universi-

ties dishing out unconditional offers –

which removes the incentive for

youngsters to work hard for exams.

They said tougher exam content,

which was particularly challenging in

maths, may also have been a factor.

however, exam chiefs insisted the

most likely reason for the A and A* fall

was a larger number of lower ability

pupils deciding to opt for more chal-

lenging subjects. Around 300,000 pupils

received their A-level results yesterday,

having become the first year-group to

sit most of the new qualifications.

Under reforms pioneered by former

FOR the first time, more girls

than boys are taking science

A-levels in a sign that they

may be targeting tradition-

ally male careers.

Girls now make up 50.3 per

cent of all entries in science

subjects, compared with 49.

per cent last year.

Exam chiefs said it was a

‘historic first’ following a

huge campaign by the Gov-

ernment and schools to

encourage girls into the field.

Science has always been

dominated by boys, and in

2012 they had an eight per-

centage point lead on girls.

But parents have become

more aware of just how little

the average earnings are for

many traditionally ‘female’

areas and are more ambi-

tious for their daughters.

Pete Langley, of The Student

Room website, said: ‘This is a

symbol of the growing confi-

dence of young women.’

EMILY Manock is heading to

Oxford University after

being inspired by a visit to

one of the colleges.

The 18-year-old (above),

who has cerebral palsy, vis-

ited Jesus College while still

studying for her GCSEs.

She said: ‘I saw a student

who likely had cerebral

palsy as I do, and it was at

that point that I began to

set my sights on Oxford.’

The pupil at Bolton School

Girls’ Division yesterday

achieved A* in English liter-

ature, A* in politics, A in

French and B in German. She

is now set to return to Jesus

College to study French.

Chasing Oxford dream

with cerebral palsy

Deafness

didn’t hold

up Jessica

PALOMA Shemirani wants to

change perceptions of beauty

pageants after gaining two

A*s in Spanish and English and

an A in history A-level.

The 18-year-old, who studied

at Roedean School, Brighton,

is heading to Cambridge to

read Spanish and Portuguese

and is also set to compete in

the finals of Miss Brighton.

She said: ‘A lot of people

have a stereotyped view of

beauty pageants that all the

women taking part are not

academic. Well that is untrue.

In this “Me Too” era, I wanted

to prove that you can be intel-

ligent and academic as well.’

Paloma, from Brighton,

says she is dedicated to

glamour as well as her

academic studies.

Looking

good for

Cambridge

YOUNG activist Jessica

Olliver – who was born

profoundly deaf – is head-

ing for university after

learning her subjects

through lip-reading.

The 18-year-old (right)

is an ambassador for

deaf charity Auditory

Verbal UK, and yesterday

achieved A* in geography,

A* in history and an

A in politics.

The Brighton College

pupil is now going to

Leeds University to study

international history

and politics.

She said: ‘I have learnt

mainly through lip-

reading – the teachers

and school have been fan-

tastic. I’m not saying it

hasn’t been difficult but

the work has paid off.’

education secretary Michael Gove,

A-levels now include content which

better prepares students for university

• and much of it is more challenging.
  Students are also now required to
  take all their exams at the end of their
  courses, instead of having some marks
  ‘banked’ in the lower sixth form.
  The changes were brought in amid
  concerns qualifications had been made
  too easy under New Labour and grade
  inflation was out of control. While stu-
  dents sat exams for a number of the
  new qualifications last year, this is the
  first year everyone took the new-look
  maths – the most popular A-level.
  Yesterday it emerged the maths
  exams were so difficult that grade
  boundaries had to be lowered dramati-
  cally by some boards – with students
  only needing to gain 50 per cent of
  marks for an A grade.
  Alan Smithers, professor of education
  at the University of Buckingham, said:
  ‘Top grades look to have fallen this year
  for several reasons. The tougher exams
  have lowered the marks beyond the
  point where the exams watchdog
  Ofqual felt able to prop them up.
  ‘The increased numbers in some sub-
  jects makes it likely that some weaker
  candidates may have been tempted to
  sit them. And having an unconditional
  offer takes the pressure off having to do
  your very best.’
  This year 38 per cent of students
  received at least one unconditional offer
  of a university place compared with just
  one per cent six years ago.

A and A*s

plunge to

the lowest

point in

12 years

By Eleanor Harding, Sarah Harris

Elliot Mulligan and Will Fryer

‘Unconditional offers

take off pressure’

Girls lead in science

Daily Mail, Friday, August 16, 2019

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