UK A-level Results 2025: Could Higher Grades Be Here to Stay?
As results day approaches for hundreds of thousands of pupils, experts are suggesting that top A-level grades could become the “new normal”, raising questions about AQA grade boundaries 2025 and whether pandemic-era trends have permanently shifted academic standards.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said this will be a “pretty straightforward year,” yet concerns about creeping grade inflation refuse to fade.
Professor Alan Smithers, director of education at the University of Buckingham, has been analysing exam data for decades. His verdict? Last year’s bumper grades may not have been a one-off. In fact, they could be here to stay.
In a report published ahead of results day, Professor Smithers predicts a higher proportion of A and A* grades compared to pre-COVID levels, warning that these outcomes might now be the baseline.
“A-level grades have a chance to settle down this year after the volatility of COVID and its aftermath. They are likely to be close to last year’s, where top grades were a percentage point or two above pre-COVID levels,” he said.
He added, “It may be that grades never get back to what was regarded as the norm before the Covid crisis, and 2024 has set the new benchmark.”
A-level, AS, and T-level results will be released on Thursday, 14 August from 8am BST, with GCSE results following on Thursday, 21 August. Pupils in Scotland received their grades earlier this month.
Results can be collected in person or accessed online, with many A-level students also receiving emails from their chosen universities on the day.
Last year, 27.8% of A-level entries across the UK received A or A* grades — a slight increase on 2023’s 27.2%. These numbers remain above the 25.4% recorded in 2019, before the pandemic.
However, they are far below the extraordinary highs of 2020 and 2021, when the cancellation of in-person exams and reliance on teacher assessments caused top-grade percentages to surge dramatically.
Even so, the ongoing presence of higher results is making some question whether AQA grade boundaries 2025 will maintain this upward curve.
The COVID effect has not fully faded. Since 2022, GCSE pupils in England taking maths, physics, and combined science have been given formula sheets to help offset lost learning.
This measure will remain in place until at least 2027. Many of the teenagers collecting results this summer were in Year 6 when the first lockdown began, meaning the academic impact of that disruption is still playing out in exam halls.
For university applicants, this year could prove especially favourable. UCAS chief executive Jo Saxton has described it as a “good year to be a UK-domiciled 18-year-old” as universities, facing uncertainty over international recruitment, are eager to secure home students.
Nearly 22,700 undergraduate courses were listed with vacancies just a week before results day, with several Russell Group universities actively seeking more applicants.
Vivienne Stern, head of Universities UK, summed it up: “It’s a bit of a buyer’s market this admissions round… (students) should take stock of whether what they’re being offered is right for them.”
Students who do not get the grades for their first-choice university still have options. Clearing opens at 1pm on results day, offering alternative courses for those who missed out, changed their mind, or applied late.
Anyone who believes their grades are wrong can request a marking review through their school or college, with the possibility of a formal appeal if necessary.
With AQA grade boundaries 2025 under scrutiny, all eyes will be on whether these results confirm a lasting shift in the academic landscape — or if the shadow of the pandemic is still influencing grades more than the government would like to admit.
