The decoupling of AS and A levels has led to a sharp drop in the number of AS qualifications awarded in 2017, Ofqual statistics out today reveal.

There were 3.8 million entries and 1.5 million AS or A-level certificates awarded in 2016-17 - compared with 4.3 million entries and 2 million certificates awarded the previous year.

The drop is mostly due to fewer AS-level entries - down from 2,345,000 entries in June 2016 to 1,540,760 entries in June 2017.

This led to a fall in the number of certificates from 1,180,615 certificates in June 2016 to 670,015 in June 2017.

There were also around 6,000 fewer A-level certificates.

Students receive one certificate showing the grades they achieved from each exam board they were entered with.

Increase in GCSE certificates

Meanwhile, the Ofqual statistics show that there was a 3.3 per cent increase in the number of GCSE certificates awarded, up to 5.2 million in 2016-17. “This is, in part, due to schools moving from iGCSE to GCSE qualifications and more students taking English literature,” says the DfE report.

The number of late GCSE entries dropped by just under 10 per cent, The DfE reveals that the number of late GCSE entries fell from 487,250 in 2015-16 to 439,710 in 2016-17 - representing around 3 per cent of all GCSE entries.

The number of late AS-/A-level entries also fell from 90,845 to 83,975 - a drop of almost 8 per cent. This represented about 2 per cent of all AS-/A-level entries

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