Well if you compare the % who get 9/8 with the old A star, you’ll find more with the 8/9 now. If you look at the % who get 7/8/9 it will be higher than the % that had A/Astar in the last year of lettered grades.
There has been grade inflation. The reason a new grade 9 was introduced was to distinguish between upper and lower A*….and now you can do that. Now that you can get 2 grades above a 7, a 7 being an old A is still good, but it’s the 3rd grade.
When government etc categorise ‘passes’ they talk about ‘higher grade passes’ which are 7-9. So these are the more highly sought after grades.in the past, more than just an A grade would have been considered a higher grade and suitable for moving onto A Level with.
If you look at the results of the most selective schools, you’ll see huge percentages getting 9s…far more than the first years numbered GCSEs came out. For the most academic, 9 and 8 don’t quite feel equal anymore. Oxford used to talk about taking 8/9 as the same grade…but that’s now been dropped. So gradually, I’d agree that the 9 is becoming the new A star.
To be honest, it’s the same at A Level. Competitive courses at top Unis are unlikely to include Bs in their offers. For many, you probably won’t get an offer if you don’t have some predicted A star grades. For the most competitive courses at top unis such as Economic or Maths at some of the London and Scottish Unis and places like Durham or Warwick, people with 3 A star predictions at A Level don’t usually get offers for all of those places if they apply to all.
None of this is to say that a 7 at GCSE isn’t a good grade, or that an 8 is a disappointment. Absolutely not. But there are very good grades and THE top grade, and 9 is it now. The grade boundaries between 7 and 9 (ie range of grade 8) can be significant. The person with a low 8 has something quite different to a 9. Numbers were set with the ‘best’ grade with the highest number. A 10 can be added if necessary!
These grades have to serve the full ability of cohort. On one hand, a 4 is a ‘standard’ or low pass. At the bottom end, it’s a pretty low standard, but it means someone one getting it has a pass and won’t have to do it again. A 5 as a ‘good’ pass equates to a decent C of the past…or it did when the numbered system started. It’s still not a great basis for A Level. Students with mostly 5/6 would probably be recommended to consider Btecs as delivering them better outcomes than A Levels. 6 as an absolute minimum for humanities A Levels and 7 for sciences and 8 for Maths to have a chance of decent grades at A Level…although clearly someone starting with 9 is far more likely to get high grades than someone starting with 6. Those with 5/6 can often get better outcomes and offers for better courses by doing Btecs.
Not everyone can be a top academic student. More grades mean more differentiation between students..that’s all.