2025 exam results

Now that both the GCSE and A Level cohorts have received their exam results, I am pleased to share some of the key statistics with you. 

86% of the A Level Economics students achieved grades A*-B, compared with approximately 55% of A Level students in the wider student population. I was particularly proud that one of those students progressed from a predicted grade E in the subject to achieving a grade B in his final exams, which was frankly unthinkable just a few months earlier. It is also worth noting that some of these students faced severe barriers to learning, whether that be personal struggles or additional learning needs. Moreover, I never turn students away from tuition on the basis of their mock exam results or predicted grades since, with the right work ethic and guidance, it is clear that the sky is the limit!

The GCSE students achieved some outstanding results. A whopping 80% of these students achieved a grade 8 or above in at least one of the subjects that I tutored them in. One of those students progressed from a grade 4 in his English Language mock exams last year to a grade 8 this year, which was an incredible result. Some of these students had also faced some significant challenges when it came to exam preparation, which made these results all the more delightful. 

Despite all this success, I’d like to highlight a few points that I always bear in mind as a tutor and academic mentor for these students. Firstly, success is relative: there are students for whom passing Maths and English will constitute a huge achievement, and their success should be celebrated at least equally, and perhaps more, than the academically gifted student easing their way to top grades. Secondly, I am just one cog in a much larger machine. The student, their parents, the school and even YouTube resources all play an important role in helping to achieve exam success. Lastly, I do hope we can move towards a society in which success is not defined or determined by exam results achieved aged 16 or 18, especially given the unclear relevance of certain qualifications amid the rapid encroachment of artificial intelligence into universities, homes and the workplace. 

Many of the students I’ve worked with who struggle academically are phenomenally gifted in other ways that are not easily measured in exams: they can construct and fix things, they can play instruments and they are often empathetic, charismatic and humorous people who light up every room they enter. These talents are not easily summarised on the results paper, but that doesn’t mean they are any less valuable. Even as tutors focused on academic success, we must never lose sight of this.