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.

28.5% of A-Level entries achieved grade A or above, up 0.2 percentage points compared with 2025

This figure has actually been very steady at 27-28% since 2010 when A* were introduced, apart from an signficant increase during Covid shambles. There is grading on a curve so as long as that stays, it won't increase. There is no new problem.

Here is the data. There was grade inflation but then it stopped.

A level outcomes in England

There has been much more significant grade inflation in recent years at degree level. That is much harder to manage as there is no national exam standarisation and universities clearly have an incentive to award Firsts.

A First class honours degree used to be a rare and exceptional achievement. In the past many specific courses or at traditional universities, whole cohorts might see only one or two firsts awarded or none at all

@pinkspeakers The problem goes back way more than 16 years. It goes back to the 1992 legislation where HE institutions became universities. Polys had taken people with 2 A levels in the early 70s. 20 years later their degree courses grew like topsy and dc with 3 decent enough A levels were needed. Except we didn’t have enough dc with 3 good A levels. So we changed the A levels and pushed dc into the new universities.

My point, aimed at the OP, was that there is currently no significant grade inflation at A level. There used to be signficant inflation, but that stopped in 2010 at the same time as A star was introduced to address the problem of the inflation that had already happened. So if we weren't concerned in 2010 about how to choose between all these candidates with top grades then we shouldn't be concerned now as nothing much has changed.

Data from 1964 - 2014 (see page 2)

A-Levels 1951-2014

@pinkspeakersWho said we were not? Plus university places were capped by then, but the vast number of university places had already happened from 1992 onwards and the landscape had totally changed and employers were getting more choice of grads. The need to select partly by tests, as opposed to uni attended, cv and interview, was by used by many employers because they could not trust degrees.

By 2013/14 the cap on uni places had been lifted and there was a huge need for bums on seats. If we didn’t increase top grades we certainly opened up courses to D grades. Then these grads apply for jobs and employers get even more choice and difficulty choosing.

I think this is the relevant chart and the ruse in top grades is stark.

Top grades have undoubtedly increased over the longer term. No one is saying they haven’t. But the idea that they are still rising year on year is false. Aside from Covid, they have been steady for about 15 years. Most candidates absolutely do not get 3 A stars. If you recruit for a highly competitive, high status and well paid job, you will likely see more of them.

Thanks for posting those charts. It's very interesting to see how the post-16 educational landscape has changed so much since the mid-20th century.

Exactly @HippoStraw . I think many people know that the number of top grades has increased since they took their exams, so they assume the number is still increasing every year. I assumed this was true until recently. I work for a University and needed some information on this in order to consider whether we should increase the grades we ask for. I was quite surprised to find there has essentially been no change since 2010. So having recently corrected my own assumptions, I am now keen to banish this myth of perpetual grade inflation!

Nail on the head. The conversion of Polys to Unis has proved to be a very bad move. Our local Poly used to do all kinds of courses, and I did my chartered accountancy exam tuition there on day release/evening classes. All that's gone. Now all they do are degrees, no "adult" education at all and that's left a massive chasm. Likewise our local college of FE used to do evening classes - I actually taught accounting there for a few years, but again, now all that's gone and it's become only for 16-18 year olds with no accounting qualification tuition, not even to that age group. As an adult, I can't even do evening classes for GCSE/A levels anymore - the door is firmly shut to anyone outside the 16-18 age group or undergrads. I did an A level English in the late 90s at our local college of FE, but I couldn't do that now.

Given the number of Unis that are financially struggling, perhaps they need to convert colleges/Polys and use the facilities/staff etc to start teaching adults various subjects and vocational subjects, etc., alongside school-leavers etc, preferably flexibly so day release and evening class options again like it used to be.

Tbf I think that's area dependant, my DD's old 6th form college does evening classes for a few courses and does daytime half/one full day once a week courses for subjects like accounting. But I agree, taking a gcse or a level by doing evening classes at a local college is difficult these days. I guess as usual it's about money and demand.