Reports shed further light on UK education gender divide

24 February 2017

Two statistics reports published today by Cambridge Assessment shed further light on the gender divide in UK education.

The first report Candidates awarded A* and A grades at GCSE in 2015, found that nearly two thirds (65%) of those who achieved 10 or more A* grades at GCSE were female. The picture for A grades was similar, with girls making up 64% of those achieving at least 10 A* or A grades. 

The second report, Ranking of candidates’ best GCSE grades by subject in 2015, sheds light on the gender divide at subject level, with boys twice as likely as girls to achieve their best grade in Maths, while girls were much more likely than boys to achieve their best grade in English Literature, Religious Studies or Art & Design. 

The analyses are part of a routine series of statistics reports which are regularly released as part of Cambridge Assessment’s commitment to transparency and access to exams data. The data for both analyses was taken from the National Pupil Database held by the Department for Education.

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