A-Level Geography 2024 Results Analysis

Last summer we were told that grading would be very similar to pre-pandemic awarding - however across all subjects grades were higher. This year we have seen a grade distribution for geography which is almost identical to last year's (as you can see in the graph below).

98.3% of all geography students gained A*-E (which is the same as 2023), and is slightly above the figure for all subjects (97.4%). Almost a quarter of entries (24.8%) were A* and A (the same as last year).

It is worth noting though that Geography is still relatively gender balanced with 54.1% entrants being male this year, compared to 45.9%. Whereas in other social sciences subjects there is a much bigger difference - over 70% of entrants for Sociology, Psychology and RE are female, with over 60% for History.

However, there is a considerable difference in achievement by gender with 32.% of girls achieving A*-A compared to 18.2% of boys...

Last year we were all a little surprised that the grade boundaries were actually higher than those of 2019 - although we did consider the fact that we have been teaching these specs for a number of years now therefore are getting much better at prepping our students to perform well. With this in mind we were expecting grade boundaries this year to be similar to those of 2023, which they were...

It's also worth considering demographics here. Total A-Level entries were up on last year with 886,514 students sitting exams - an increase of 2.2% (following an increase of 2.2% last year too). This is interesting as it is higher than the increase in the population of 18 year olds - which is 0.9%, according to the ONS.

However, Geography has once again dropped in popularity - 36,314 sat the exam this year (a drop of 5.1% from 2023) accounting for 4.1% of all entries (down from 4.4% last year).

Last year Geography dropped out of the top ten most popular subjects, and unfortunately this year now features in the top ten subjects with declining entry, in third place. Although it is worth noting that History, RE, Sociology and Psychology also feature in this list, as students opt to take more science-based subjects where they perhaps see more value in terms of career prospects. There are questions to be asked about what we teach at GCSE and how this affects A-Level numbers, but also shows the real need to be promoting career links in Geography as there are many fantastic careers that our subject can lead to. And of course, we also need to consider the impact of Geography teacher retention and how having non-specialists teaching GCSE might affect these numbers.

The top A-Level entries by subject for 2024 are:

1. Mathematics (12.1% of total entries)
2. Psychology (8.9% of total entries)
3. Biology (8.4% of total entries)
4. Chemistry (7.1% of total entries)
5. History (5.3% of total entries)

The top A-Level subject increases for 2024 are:

1. Further Mathematics (up by 19.9%
2. Physics (up by 12.3%)
3. Computing (up by 11.3%)
4. Mathematics (up by 10.9%)
5. English Literature (up by 8.0%)