Thread by @Telegraph

🚨The number of GCSE students achieving a clean sweep of top marks has quadrupled since before the pandemic
telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/1…

📈This year 3,606 pupils in England were handed all 9s, the highest grade, up from 837 in 2019, the last year that students took exams

✍️Like the A-level results on Tuesday, #GCSEs2021 revealed substantial grade inflation.

⬆️30.2% of all entries were graded 7 or above - the equivalent of A and A* grades under the old system
telegraph.co.uk//news/2021/08/…

👩‍🎓Girls were more likely to receive the top grade, with 8.9% receiving a 9, compared to 5.9% for boys.

Over a third of female entries gained the top grades (7 or above), compared to 25.6% of male entries; by far the highest gap this century

🔺The largest grade inflation was seen in economics, performing arts and engineering.

📚Yet students studying the classics - such as Latin or Ancient Greek - remained the most likely to achieve the top grades overall
telegraph.co.uk//news/2021/08/…

🏫Independent schools also saw the highest level of inflation.

📈The number of pupils receiving top grades at independent schools increased at double the rate of comprehensives

🇬🇧The divide in grade inflation is also visible geographically, with 34.5% of results in London grade 7 and above, compared to 24.4% in Yorkshire and the Humber
telegraph.co.uk//news/2021/08/…

🗨️In subject uptake, languages have seen the sharpest decline in recent years, with both French and German entries falling by at least a quarter over the past decade.

🔻Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Italian and Polish also saw declines, after having peaked five years ago