GCSE outcomes in England


These interactive charts and tables show GCSE full course outcomes across all subjects for all results for the years 2008 to 2025 and for 16 year olds for the years 2013 to 2025.

Clicking on an individual grade or sex in the legend will make the line in the chart disappear or appear. For more explanation of these charts and tables, click on the Questions and Answers tab.

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This visualisation shows GCSE outcomes and the number of results issued to students taking GCSEs in England in the summer exam series from 2008 to 2025. Details of the data shown in each chart are as follows:

  • tab 1 (All) shows the percentage of results achieving each grade in GCSE in the subject selected
  • tab 2 (Female) shows data used in tab 1 for female students
  • tab 3 (Male) shows data used in tab 1 for male students
  • tab 4 (Results) shows the number of results issued to students taking GCSEs in the subject selected, overall and split by sex.

You can use the menu to change the data shown in the charts and tables. Using the "Display" radio buttons you can switch between viewing the data as a chart or table.

When you hover over a point on the chart, a pop-up box will appear. For the first three tabs, the pop-up box in the chart provides information on the year, the grade and the percentage of results achieving that grade (or that grade and above if "cumulative percentages" are selected) in the selected subject. For the fourth tab, the pop-up box in the chart provides information on the year, the sex of students and the number of results issued for students taking a GCSE in the selected subject.

Schools and colleges in England are included.

Data for the years 2008 to 2025 include all students in England taking GCSEs. Data for 16-year-old students in England (the age students are typically when taking GCSEs) is available by selecting "Aged 16" from the age group options. In these charts, the breakdown by age is only available for 2013 onwards as this was the first year the breakdown was published in this data.

In this visualisation, some figures compare male and female students. Ofqual does not collect this information directly but instead receives it from JCQ who collect the data from awarding organisations, who in turn receive it from schools and colleges. While we understand the majority of this data to relate to students' legal sex, in some cases it might reflect students' gender identity instead.

All GCSE subjects taken in England in the latest summer series are included in the "All subjects" grouping in the subject drop-down. The majority of GCSE subjects with results issued in England in 2025 are available to select individually in the subject drop-down. For historical information on subjects not included in the drop down visit the JCQ results tables.

All of the subjects are grouped using the subject groupings established by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). Most groupings contain a single subject but some groupings contain multiple subjects. For example, "classical subjects" includes Biblical Hebrew, ancient history, classical civilisation, classical Greek and Latin. Social science subjects includes law, psychology and sociology. Performing/expressive arts contained performing arts, expressive arts and dance until 2017; from 2018 this category only includes dance. Some subjects were not reformed and the reasons for this are explained in this article on timings for the withdrawal of legacy GCSEs, AS and A levels. These subjects are not displayed due to them not having results in the latest exam series. If you would like to access this historical data see the Joint Council for Qualifications examination results.

All valid qualification-level results issued on results days which include passing grades and Fails (U) are included. Outcomes representing the absence of a result (Q, X) are also issued on results days, but are not included here. The absence of a result can be due to ongoing malpractice investigations, students being absent from the assessment or results being pending.

Results for GCSE combined science are double counted in this visualisation because the qualifcation is the size of 2 GCSEs.

Results are different from certificates. The results issued on results days are provisional and may be changed, for example following a review or appeal initiated by the student or their school or college. Certificates reflect the final record of achievement and are usually issued some time after results are issued.

Grading in summer 2025 and 2024 continued as normal following the return to pre-pandemic standards in summer 2023. Further information for 2025 is available in the Ofqual guide for schools and colleges, the Ofqual student guide 2025 and the Understanding grading: toolkit for schools and colleges. Further information for 2024 is available in our Guide to GCSE results for England, summer 2024.

In summer 2023 the aim was to return to pre-pandemic grading. As in any year, grade boundaries were set based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative evidence. The return to pre-pandemic grading means that national results were lower than in summer 2022. Further information for 2023 is available in our Guide to GCSE results for England, summer 2023.

Awarding in summer 2022 was at a midway point between summer 2019 and summer 2021. As in any year, grade boundaries were set based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative evidence. Further information is available in our Guide to GCSE results for England summer 2022

Ahead of summer 2021, the government determined that many exams and assessments could not be held fairly because of the disruption students had faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers were asked instead to submit grades to the exam boards, based on their assessment of what students have shown they know and can do, enabling progression to the next stage of education, training, or employment. Further information is available in our Guide to GCSE results for England 2021.

The summer 2020 exam series was cancelled due to the measures put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students were awarded either their centre assessment grade or the calculated grade, whichever was the higher. Further information about the alternative arrangements for awarding in summer 2020 is available in our Guide to GCSE results for England, 2020.

In 2020 and 2021, when GCSE, AS and A level grades were determined by teachers, national outcomes were higher than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Outcomes were also higher than pre-pandemic in 2022 when grading was at a midway point between summer 2019 and summer 2021. For more information see Ofqual's approach to grading exams and assessments in summer 2022 and autumn 2021.

Non-cumulative percentages for each grade show the actual percentage of results issued for a particular grade. For example, 18% of results were a grade 7.

Cumulative percentages are the percentage of results issued for that grade and all the grades above it. For example, a cumulative 38% for grade 7 and above means that 38% of results were a grade 7, 8 or 9.

For cumulative percentages, it is possible to view the data with the y-axis reversed (going from 100 to 0 instead of 0 to 100) by selecting 100 to 0 from the y-axis layout options.

For subjects which have been reformed, legacy view will show the outcomes of legacy qualifications up until the last summer they were awarded and reformed view will show the outcomes of reformed qualifications from the first summer they were awarded. Additionally, some subjects have been available for only a part of the time period displayed: citizenship studies and engineering were first awarded in summer 2011, computing was first awarded in summer 2013, and food preparation and nutrition was first awarded in summer 2018.

Some line labels appear to be missing where the data points on the chart overlap. You can see which grade or sex the line relates to by hovering over the line and the pop-up box will then appear which includes this information. The legend also identifies each line on the chart and clicking on an individual grade or sex in the legend will make the associated line in the chart disappear or appear.

In 2014 to 2016, a large number of students were entered to level1/level 2 certificates in English language instead of GCSEs. Schools and colleges continued to enter students to these GCSE alternatives until summer 2017 when they no longer counted in performance tables.

GCSEs in England have been reformed, see the timetable of reforms.

The new 9 to 1 grade scale and old A* to G scale link at 7 and A; 4 and C; and 1 and G. See the Grading new GCSEs postcard for more information. In the new grading scale, the distribution of results has been split into more grades above grade 4 than above grade C on the legacy grading scale. That means that the percentage of results "in grade", eg achieving a grade 7, is typically smaller than those having previously were "in grade" for a grade A. However, the cumulative proportion at grade 7 (achieving 7 and above) is typically similar to the proportion achieving grade A and above.

For similar reasons, because there are fewer grades below a 4 than there were below a C, there are typically larger percentages "in grade" e.g. receiving a grade 1 than would have previously achieved a grade G.

Using the qualification status buttons, it is possible to view GCSE outcomes for pre-reform (referred to as "legacy") qualifications, reformed qualifications, and legacy and reformed qualifications together. Legacy qualifications are graded from A* to G and reformed qualifications are graded from 9 to 1. The legacy and reformed view shows outcomes for the three pairs of grades which align on the two scales: A/7, C/4 and G/1.

For most subjects, there was no overlap in the availability of legacy and reformed qualifications. In these cases, the legacy and reformed view will show the percentage of students achieving grades A, C and G up to the final summer the legacy qualifications were awarded and then the percentage of students achieving grades 7, 4 and 1 from the first summer reformed qualifications in that subject were awarded onwards.

The exception to this is mathematics, English language and classical subjects. For mathematics and English language, resits of legacy qualifications were available in summer 2017 - the first summer the reformed qualifications in these subjects were awarded. Therefore, the legacy and reformed view for these subjects includes the combined outcomes of legacy and reformed qualifications for summer 2017.

The classical subjects grouping include a number of subjects which are being reformed at different times. Reformed Latin and classical Greek were first awarded in summer 2018, reformed ancient history and classical civilisation were first awarded in summer 2019, and reformed biblical Hebrew will be first awarded in summer 2020. Therefore, the combined outcomes of legacy and reformed qualifications are presented in the legacy and reformed view for classical subjects for summer 2018 onwards. As the "all subjects" category contains a mix of legacy and reformed subjects the legacy and reformed view shows combined outcomes from summer 2017 onwards.

Aside from the current reform, there have been a number of changes over the time period shown which are likely to affect both outcomes and the number of learners taking qualifications in the summer. These include a reduction in the number of exam series available throughout the academic year, changes to accountability measures, changes to the importance placed on taking certain subjects (eg the introduction of the English Baccalaureate) and changes to the structure of qualifications (eg shifts from modular to linear qualifications). It should also be noted that outcomes over time might vary more in subjects taken by very small numbers of learners (since the candidature is likely to be less stable over time).

Ofqual receives this data from the JCQ, near to results day. This data is supplied by awarding organisations to the JCQ who usually publish the data on results day. The results issued on results days are provisional and may be changed, for example following a review or appeal initiated by the student or their school or college. Because results are provisional when this visualisation is published, figures may differ from figures that reflect student’s final records of achievement.

This means that it is possible that the figures presented here may not be the same as those presented in the Department for Educations statistical first release on GCSE results. There may be differences in data processing, rounding and when data was collected from awarding organisations.

To ensure confidentiality of the data, all figures for the number of results have been rounded to the nearest 5. Percentages that refer to fewer than 5 results have been suppressed (seen as "Not shown") in the data tables and charts. This is to ensure the identity of any individuals or organisations, or any private information is not revealed from our interactive visualisation.

The total number of results issued has been calculated using unrounded figures. As a result, the sum of rounded figures may slightly differ from the total reported.

We are publishing this data so that students, schools, policy makers and the public can easily access and explore information on qualifications and outcomes.

For any feedback on these graphs or tables, please contact [email protected].

Return to the Ofqual Analytics home page.

If you need an accessible version of this information to meet specific accessibility requirements, please email [email protected] with details of your request.