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GCSE pass rate (grade 4+)

Percentage of pupils achieving grade 4 or above in GCSE English and maths (the "standard pass").

69 %
+0.40pp vs previous period

As of 2024

Historical trend

67 68 69 201720212024

Trend summary

67.6% of GCSE entries in England achieved grades 4–9 (a standard pass) in summer 2024, down slightly from 67.9% in 2023.

Trend

  • The grade 4–9 pass rate rose sharply in 2020 and 2021 during COVID-19 teacher-assessed grading, then fell back toward the 2019 baseline in 2022–24.
  • The 2024 rate of 67.6% is close to the pre-pandemic 2019 level of 67.3%, following a planned post-pandemic grade normalisation.
  • The proportion achieving grade 7–9 (equivalent to A/A*) has been broadly stable at around 23% since 2022.

Context

  • DfE publishes GCSE results for England annually in October; the numerical grading scale (9–1) replaced A*–G from summer 2017.
  • Grade 4 is described as a "standard pass" and grade 5 as a "strong pass" in DfE guidance.

Trend summary generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 on 10 October 2024. Contains no editorial judgement — describes direction, magnitude, and official projections only.

About this indicator

Update frequency
Annual
Last updated
17 October 2024 Data may be out of date
Licence
OGL v3
Rising trend is…
Positive

Statistics

Latest
69.2 %
Period high
69.2
Period low
67.1
Period average
68.1