Home educated and/or self-studying, or teaching in mainstream education and wondering how A Level subject grade distributions compare between Awarding Organisation (AO) specifications? Curious as to which AO subject specification is the market leader in term of entries entered?
If so, arc exams have produced this tabulation that might be of interest. It aggregates published AO provisional grades for ‘high volume’ A Level subject examinations held in Summer 2024. Eighteen subjects in total, covering seventy-two specifications offered by AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas. The eighteen subjects listed account for 83% (692,260) of all A Level grades issued.
As well as detailing cumulative grade distributions, it also shows the number of candidate entries for each specification. Market share for each subject and % movement, from the previous Summer, is also shown.
Of course, subject grade comparisons between AOs are only one of numerous factors to consider when deciding what specification to study. Examination entry fees (another blog to follow on those shortly), market share and specification content are others. Nevertheless, we hope the data presented here gives you food for thought and an insight into A Level subject activity and popularity.
As in previous years there are stark differences between some AO subject grade distributions. Across the subjects shown, there is a spread of 0.4 and 17.6 percentage points between the specification with the highest A*/A attainment versus that with the lowest. For example, 52.1% of candidates sitting OCRs spec H240 (Mathematics A) achieved an A*/A grade, compared to just 40.9% achieving an A*/A grade for Pearson Edexcel’s market leading Mathematics spec, 9MA0.
Similarly, significant grade variances also exist where an AO offers two specifications for the same subject! For example, 31.3% of candidates entered for Pearson Edexcel’s spec 9EC0 (Economics A) achieved an A*/A grade, compared to only 20.3% achieving an A*/A grade for spec 9EB0 (Economics B), albeit the latter recorded far fewer entries.
Of the eighteen subjects shown, AQA are market leaders in nine, Pearson Edexcel in six and OCR in three. AQA dominate all three science subjects and the ‘ologies.’ Pearson Edexcel are market leaders in ‘number subjects; Mathematics, Economics and Business. Politics too! OCR account for nigh on 70% of all Computer Science entries.
Overall A Level market share for Summer 2025 is illustrated below.
Although AQA accounts for nearly half of all A Level entries, it recorded a 0.6% decline in market share compared to last summer. Conversely, Pearson Edexcel witnessed an overall market share increase by 1.1%, with market share gains in ten of the fifteen subjects where they offer a specification. OCR & Eduqas each fell circa 0.2%.