Fall in top grades as results back to pre-Covid levels

There has been a fall in the number of A-level entries in Northern Ireland awarded top A* and A grades in 2024.

That was widely expected as grades returned to pre-pandemic levels.

About 30.3% of A-level entries have been awarded A* or A grades in 2024, compared to 37.5% in 2023, 44% in 2022 and a record 51% in 2021.

About one in every 12 (8.2%) A-levels in 2024 has been awarded at the top A* grade.

In 2020 and 2021, schools calculated grades for their pupils after summer exams were cancelled due to the pandemic.

One of the effects of that was a significant rise in results.

In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, about 29.4% of A-level entries were awarded the top two grades.

Maths was again the most popular A-level subject in Northern Ireland in 2024, with around one in ten students taking it.

The rest of the top five most popular subjects were biology,…