Home educated and/or self-studying, or teaching in mainstream education and wondering how GCSE 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 selected, ‘high volume’ GCSE subject examinations held in Summer 2024. 21 subjects in total, covering 77 specifications offered by AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas. As well as detailing cumulative grade distributions for each specification, it also shows candidate entry volumes and the market leading specification (emboldened).
AQA dominate most core subjects (English Language, English Literature, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Combined Science), where they typically command circa 80% market share. They also account for three-quarters of all French, German and Spanish entries. Pearson Edexcel’s market share in Mathematics remains undiminished with their specification accounting for 64% of Summer 2024 entries.
GCSE Computer Science, a relative newcomer first launched a decade ago replacing GCSE ICT, recorded just shy of 97,000 entries this Summer with OCR accounting for 76% of all entrants.
As with A Levels, reported in our previous blog, there are some stark differences between AO subject grade distributions. Across the subjects shown, there is a spread of between 0.6 and 55.6 percentage points between the specification with the highest >= Grade 4 attainment versus that with the lowest. For example, 76.3% of candidates sitting OCRs spec J351 (English Language) achieved a Grade 4 or above compared to only 20.7% achieving equivalent grade attainment for Pearson Edexcel’s English Language 2.0 specification (1EN2).
Similarly, 61.9% of candidates sitting Pearson Edexcel’s spec 1MA1 (Mathematics), three papers, achieved a Grade 4 or above compared to only 20.7% achieving equivalent grade attainment for Eduqas’s Mathematics specification (C300), comprising two papers.
Of course, subject grade comparisons between AOs are just one of many factors to consider when deciding which specification to study. Examination entry fees (another blog to follow on those shortly), market share and specification content & familiarity will be others. Nevertheless, we hope the data presented here gives you something to consider and an insight into GCSE subject activity.
Of the 21 subjects shown, AQA are market leaders in 13, Pearson Edexcel in 4, OCR in 3 and Eduqas in 1. This is reflected in overall Summer 2024 A Level market share, all subjects, as illustrated below.
AO market share this Summer almost mirrors that of Summer 2020. AQA and Pearson Edexcel have witnessed a decline of 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively, whilst OCR has increased its share by 0.1% and Eduqas has risen by 0.4%.