A-levels you cannot fail

Exam chiefs today backed A-levels that will become almost impossible to fail as teenagers scored recordbreaking grades.

Only 2.8 per cent of exams were failed as the pass rate rose for the 26th year in a row.

The numbers of pupils awarded grade As reached a new high and for the first time, more than half scored at least a grade B.

The record results meant top universities were forced to turn away thousands of teenagers who scored three As. More pupils than ever are taking four subjects to make themselves attractive to the best colleges.

The figures fuelled concerns that A-levels have become easier. But exam boards insisted that the record pass rate of 97.2 per cent showed the system was working better than ever.

Greg Watson, chief executive of the Oxford, Cambridge & RSA Examination Board, said teenagers were dropping subjects they struggled with after the first year of their courses at AS-level. They then went on to score better grades in their best subjects at the end of the two-year A-level course, he said. Mr Watson welcomed the fact that the pass rate at full-A-level was creeping towards 100 per cent as a result.

"I'm certainly not concerned," he said. "I think that is a perfectly healthy way for the system to operate."

About one in 10 sixth-formers is " saved" from fol lowing a full two-year course which they would fail, Mr Watson added.

John Dunford, from the Association of School and College Leaders, agreed, saying: "If we continue to get near to 100 per cent, it would suggest that schools' and colleges' guidance programmes are improving. Students are being guided onto courses they are most likely to succeed in." This year, Oxford expects to turn away about 5,000 candidates with straight As.

The university's director of admissions Mike Nicholson said: "There are a lot of students who will apply to us who will get As who we will not make offers to."

However, he stressed that many would be accepted by other "equally competitive universities". Cambridge University admissions chief Geoff Parks said fewer pupils had missed their offers this year than in the past.

This gives Cambridge colleges less flexibility to consider those candidates who have fallen slightly short of their offers.

Mr Parks said: "It will give us no room for manoeuvre for people who have missed their results because of illness or family issues or other discretionary issues.

"We could be up for record numbers of student who get three As who are turned down. On that measure yes, it's tougher on the students."

Competition for places through the annual clearing process is also expected to be tougher than ever as a result of the soaring pass rates.

Pupils were entered for a record 828,000 A-levels. Exam chiefs said there were signs of a revival in more difficult subjects such as maths and French this year, while socalled "soft" courses were starting to lose their appeal.

As 250,000 pupils received their results across the country, the figures showed the proportion awarded top grades has risen every year for the past decade. However, government plans will mean teenagers starting their A-levels next month will face tougher questions and a new A* grade designed to make it easier to distinguish between bright students.

Ambitious parents were credited with driving up school standards in the capital. Schools across the South-East increased the number of A-grades they scored faster than anywhere else in the country as divisions between richer and poorer areas widened.

Official figures showed how private schools and selective grammars have increasingly outshone state comprehensives since 2002.

Mr Dunford said: "There is nothing like parental aspirations for improving children's A-level results. The lesson here must be that parents have a huge role to play in raising the aspirations of children.

"Schools have a much bigger job to do in getting good A-level results where parental aspirations are lower."

Figures from exam chiefs at the Joint Council for Qualifications showed:

In London, the proportion of students scoring As rose from 22.3 in 2002 to 28.3 per cent this year.

Schools saw a similar improvement of six points across the South-East region, where this year 29.1 per cent of exams were awarded As.

The national average was 25.9 per cent. In the North-East, which was the worst-performing region of England,only 19.8 per cent achieved A-grades.

Dr Dunford said he believed the figures reflected long-standing class and wealth divisions across different regions of the country.

The results also confirmed the dominance of grammars and private schools over the top grades at A-level.

While only seven per cent of children are privately educated, independent schools account for about a quarter of all A-level results, headteachers said.

The figures showed the proportion of As awarded to private school pupils jumped by nine percentage points between 2002 and this year. For comprehensives, the increase was just four points.