Northern Ireland
Provisional GCE Results 2013
Thursday 15 August 2013
Introduction and welcome
This morning’s briefing panel:
• Martin Quinn, Director of Corporate Services
• Anne Marie Duffy, Director of Qualifications
• Pamela Larmour, Research and Statistics
Context
• Briefing on behalf of Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).
• Provisional NI GCE results from all five JCQ awarding
organisations:
– AQA
– CCEA
– Edexcel
– OCR
– WJEC
Headlines
• High numbers of NI students achieving A level
grades – particularly strong performance in
Mathematics, Chemistry and modern languages;
• Traditional subjects the most popular choices;
• Increasing entries in STEM subjects.
Format of Briefing
• GCE A Level Provisional Results 2013
Performance
Entries
Gender Comparisons
Subject Specific information
• AS Results
• Applied Results
• Questions and Answers
NI GCE A Level Results
2013
2012
ENTRIES
32,836
32,908
A* (%)
7.2
7.7
A*- A (%)
30.7
31.9
A* - C (%)
83.5
83.5
A* - E (%)
98.2
98.1
NI GCE Performance Over Time
2009 - 2013
A (%)
A – C (%)
A – E (%)
34.5
84.6
98.4
A*- A (%)
A* - C
A* – E (%)
2010
35.9
84.5
98.1
2011
34.5
84.2
98.1
2012
31.9
83.5
98.1
2013
30.7
83.5
98.2
2009
Subjects with Best Performance NI 2013
Subject
A* - A %
Entry
Further Mathematics
63.0
173
German
51.5
99
Irish
48.9
309
Mathematics
46.2
3176
Other Modern Languages
42.1
121
French
40.2
550
Chemistry
39.9
1920
Classical Subjects
39.5
119
Spanish
39.0
513
Art and Design Subjects
34.9
1042
NI GCE Entries 2009 – 2013
NI School Population Profile
School Population Cohort
28000
26000
24000
22000
20000
Year 12
Number
18000
Year 13
16000
Year 14
14000
12000
10000
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
Year
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
NI STEM Entries
% of total A
level entry
Total subject
entry 2013
Total subject
entry 2012
% change in
entry
Biology
10.2
3359
3,470
-3.2
Maths
9.7
3176
3,120
+1.8
Chemistry
5.8
1920
1,849
+3.8
Physics
4.8
1577
1,536
+2.7
ICT
4.6
1524
1498
+1.7
Technology
3.0
998
994
+0.4
Further Maths
0.5
173
155
+11.6
NI Modern Languages Entries
% of total A
level entry
Total subject
entry 2013
Total subject
entry 2012
% change in
entry
French
1.7
550
601
-8.5
Spanish
1.6
513
490
+4.7
Irish
0.9
309
304
+1.6
German
0.3
99
125
-20.8
Subjects Going up in NI
Subject (with over
400 entries)
Total subject
entries 2013
Total subject
entries 2012
Increase
% change
of entries
Business Studies
1439
1265
+174
+13.8
Geography
2001
1868
+133
+7.1
Spanish
513
490
+23
+4.7
Religious Studies
2503
2402
+101
+4.2
Chemistry
1920
1849
+71
+3.8
Political Studies
1091
1061
+30
+2.8
Subjects Going down in NI
Total subject
entries 2013
Total subject
entries 2012
Decrease
%
change
of
entries
Art and Design
1042
1232
-190
-15.4
Drama
540
617
-77
-12.5
Physical Education
631
697
-66
-9.5
French
550
601
-51
-8.5
Media Studies
1073
1141
-68
-6.0
Psychology
594
628
-34
-5.4
Subject (with over
400 entries)
Gender Comparisons 2013
Male
Female
7.1 (7.1)
7.2 (8.1)
%A* - A
28.3 (29.1)
32.8 (34.2)
%A* - E
97.8 (97.6)
98.5 (98.5)
%A*
(2012 figures in brackets)
• 7.1 % of the grades achieved by Males are A* compared to 7.2% of
the grades achieved by Females.
Most Popular A-Level Subjects NI
% of total A level
entry
Total subject entry
1. Biology
10.2
3359
2. Mathematics
9.7
3176
3. Religious Studies
7.6
2503
4. History
7.2
2363
5. English
7.0
2287
6. Geography
6.1
2001
7. Chemistry
5.8
1920
8. Physics
4.8
1577
9. ICT
4.6
1524
10. Business Studies
4.4
1439
Subject
Most Popular A Level Subjects by
Gender NI
% of total A level
Male entry
% of total A level
Female entry
Mathematics (12.5%)
Biology (11.1%)
Biology (9.3%)
Religious Studies (10.0%)
History (8.0%)
English (9.3%)
Physics (7.9%)
Mathematics (7.3%)
Geography (6.3%)
History (6.5%)
NI AS Entries 2009 – 2013
NI AS Levels 2012 – 2013
•
•
Entries
A (%)
A – C (%)
A – E (%)
2011
42,666
31.6
76.5
94.3
2012
44,486
29.5
76.1
94.6
2013
43,472
28.1
75.5
94.4
Results at A-C down by 0.6 percentage points
Results at grade A down by 1.4 percentage points
NI Applied GCE A level
•
•
Applied GCE A Level Single Award
Entries
A* - A
A* - E
2013
4,577
15.8
98.1
2012
4,433
15.5
97.2
A*A - AA
8.8
8.5
A*A - EE
98.8
98.6
Applied GCE A Level Double Award
2013
2012
Entries
859
1,012
2013 Northern Ireland GCE
Provisional Results Summary
• High numbers of NI students achieving A level
grades – particularly strong performance in
Mathematics, Chemistry and modern languages;
• Traditional subjects the most popular choices;
• Increasing entries in STEM subjects.
Questions and Answers