Students sitting their GCSE Maths exam. Photo: Wikipedia. |
Fewer fourth years taking maths GCSE meant there was a sharp improvement in maths results: the percentage achieving A* to C grades rose by 4.8 percentage points to 62.4%.
The overall pass rate was 98.5%, down 0.3 percentage points. 6.7% of entries were awarded an A* grade.
Girls are still doing better than boys at GCSE, with 73.1% of girls' entries achieving A* to C compared with 64.3% for boys.
In Wales and Northern Ireland, these changes were not introduced and the three regional sets of GCSE exams are now beginning to diverge in various ways, including the subjects being taken by students.
While the government are defending the changes being made, Chris Keates of the NASUWT teaching union said this year's students had to "cope with a raft of rushed through and ill-conceived changes to the qualifications system and so today's results are especially commendable".
The National Union of Teachers' leader Christine Blower said that the headline figures "mask underlying issues which will only become clear over time".
Have you had your GCSE results today, or are you teaching GCSEs? How did your school fare following changes to the structure of GCSEs this year? Let us know at info@mathsbank.co.uk .