With a third of A levels being at A or A star and presumably the proportion to increase how are universities going to select students for high status competitive coiurses?

[mids2019]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/aug/14/students-squeezed-out-university-courses-bumper-crop-top-a-level-grades?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcATtEpdjbGNrBO0ShXBkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeF2JA4R42PnBId2QTWTFQ95frB8yvf0pY8AzajXUe5PVrefFR3aDd56drkKc_aem_LR9dNpZoutWCESSQrZoh5A#Echobox=1786725857

Oxbridge can use interview and additional tests in selection of students but where does this leave other universities? Will other universities such as Durham need to introduce their own interviews or tests to stop applications becoming a lottery?

I have looked at some of the Oxbridge rejection threads and there are many unlucky applicants with perfect grade profiles at GCSE and A level.so have we reached a point that the perfect 'grade A' student does not hold the prestige it once did and you are now just one of many.

I think we need to introduce an A star star grade as we have to accept grade inflation is a thing so we just need to accommodate to make university recruitment (and employment) make sense.

The last S level papers were set in 2001, according to Wikipedia.

DS took a couple in 1999, at the same time as his A levels.

The problem with using them as a filter for Oxbridge offers, or the advantage of the universities’ own exams, is that the S level results came out at the same time as A levels results, long after Oxbridge has decided on its interview candidates.
That would only matter for students applying during their U6 rather than later, though.

@AugustDieSheMust You did the third year in the 6th form after results to prep for Oxford and went at 19.

My first degree was enough to provide the educational part of my professional qualification. Had I obtained the degree nowadays, I'd have needed a masters to become professionally qualified.

Master’s degrees are science qualifications not humanities. Who else needs a masters? Not accountants, nurses, solicitors, many engineers, HR, surveying, in fact most professions don’t need a masters. Loads are done to inform careers and can be useful but who needs a history masters? A few academics - teachers don’t.

There are some dodgy facts being thrown around. The % firsts has increased a lot, but it’s not 50%. It’s around 30%, slightly higher in STEM and a bit lower in humanities. Same at A level. More A and A stars in STEM there too. Over 40% in some. Humanities are more around 20%.

You could do that, yes, as an alternative to the routes I mentioned.

I was reading a TES article on Friday and in some subjects, it's about 18% A star / A (with tiny % of A star) There really is a big difference between subjects.

AI said firsts now around 40% across the board in the 90s it was 7%. Which pretty much matches what I see around me. Absolutely insane increase. The first one I was so impressed. By the 6th I was suspicious.

My DS did engineering at Cambridge which he found incredibly tough (even with 4 A*s at A level incl FM)? He worked so hard to get his 2.1.

He would get quite depressed meeting up with school mates who were acing 1sts at other unis with seemingly very little work. Some of these had really done quite averagely at school.

But now we're told all degrees are equal!

I agree! First class degrees used to truly designate a person as exceptional in their academic field, reserved strictly for original and outstanding work.

From a recruitment perspective, the firsts, A* A level people are not necessarily the best employees- exams test skills that aren’t the most important skills for success in the workplace. Even for a numerate placement - often mental numeracy, being able to explain complex ideas in simple language was more important. Ime in recruitment we might use exam results as a lazy way to screen but they aren’t mentioned afterwards. We have employees from Oxbridge and they don’t perform better than our other employees - if only it were that simple.

I didnt get that figure. I found it varied by subject and was around average of 28% in 2023-2024.

Stem subjects award more due to them being more selective on who they take and it being more quantitive in nature.

Theres an interesting analysis with a statistical model across the years suggesting that its about 11% higher than it should be so we'd still be higher than the 7% due to other factors.

@jeanne16 Employers do know they are not. Most employers do look for greater skills when employing scientists and some universities are definitely better than others. I’m not sure employers sift on first class degrees either. I’ve known plenty with average A levels but then get a first class degree but either take a substantial time to get a job or take a basic one that anyone could do.

It definitely is not all about the degree for employers. @Degasthegas gives a good perspective from an employment view point and I’d also add personality and ability to pick up new concepts and work in a team. Employers want more skills than just exams and sometimes people with a 2:1 are more rounded people.

I actually think the obsessing over exam results often doesn't play well for a lot of candidates. They come across as high achievers with underdeveloped soft skills...and these are the difficult, quite sensitive areas to work on, most employers would rather not.
I often feels that when a child is gifted in Maths for example - rather than spending resources extending their maths ability - they'd do better working on the other areas that they aren't gifted in. Of course you occasionally have good all rounders. But the message remains employers need more skills than exam results and some skills are easy to teach and some are not and the reason we value work experience is not because you learned how to work a till or stack a shelf - it's that you learned the importance of soft skills, you learned that you need to approach people - customers and colleagues, differently to get the best of your relationship - you understood how absolutely essential soft skills are.
I just wish young people and parents were made more aware of this, I've been training my kids on this stuff for years, I know it's not something taught at my kid's school and it's often not talked about until young people have amazing qualifications and can't get a job and don't really know why.

My DD took Spanish gcse three years ago and it seemed very similar to my French O level in the 80s and the Spanish A level still includes study of either two books or a book and a film. I don't think it was ever intended to make a student fluent.

Of course grades in languages have always been influenced by the number of native speakers taking the exams, maybe that has increased since the 80s. My DD's Spanish A level class of 13 students contained 2 native Spanish speakers and 1 native Portuguese speaker.

Another thing, 20 years ago or so, A levels were modular, which definitely made them more manageable for many students.

Completely agree with this.

Continuing team sports, dofe volunteering, weekend jobs and babysitting through GCSE years may mean they don't get all 9s. But it does mean they have real life experiences with a variety of other people, are part of their local communities and develop their sense of responsibility, financial management, independence etc all while developing skills in time management, using public transport, customer service, admin etc.

Grades are not everything for future success at all.

@Sweetpeasaremadeforbees A level
mfl does not get a student to fluency level. Some dc are because they are dual nationals and have a huge advantage. My DD was interviewed by Oxford for MFLs and was not expected to have read hard degree level literature at A level. She was expected to analyse an unseen text and discuss it with the tutors. It’s doubtful reading Moliere prior to Oxford was ever required. The literature based MFL degrees are hard but it’s university level texts that are quoted by @Violinist64 and that includes Oxford! No need to do them at A level.

Actually though Moliere was in exam papers but there has been a move since to widen reading and content of literature - which is no bad thing.

@CarotidFartery “Grades are not everything for future success at all.”

Richard Branson, Simon Cowell and Lord Alan Sugar all left school with the equivalent of no or one or two GCSEs.

@6ate9Richard Branson went to Stowe so had family money. Cowell was privately educated and his dad wax an executive with EMI who got him an entry job. How lucky was that? They all started businesses which don’t need qualifications. Many non professional businesses can be started by people without degrees or even A levels. You just need the idea and business sense but a big leg up with money or family influence helps.

Money definitely helps or a talent!! Robbie Williams left school with no qualifications.

I don't think it's helpful to mention Richard Branson, et al. These are a handful of people who have done very well in spite of having no qualifications. This will not apply to the vast majority.

Such people are a tiny minority and not representative at all. They're statistical anomalies. Of course, occasionally, someone with no qualifications may do well through a combination of luck, opportunity, vision, etc., but most won't. Likewise, there are people with top qualifications who, for one reason or another, never thrive nor succeed.

Degas I couldn’t agree more. Mum taught us “social skills” which we eye rolled at but have actually been the most valuable thing I have ever learned. We’ve done the same both our teens have been employed since 14 friends kids struggle to find Saturday jobs ours don’t because of how they have been brought up. They are great with the public and get lots of shifts in the pub / restaurant they work in despite others getting laid off. Soft skills mean everything.

I was at a magic circle law firm left years ago. Chap who was my trainee was a crap lawyer now head of a huge division in the top law firm in the world. Not that bright but had a lovely manner with clients.