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UAE: A-level exam results announced; schools celebrate 'excellent' grades, 100% pass rate

More than 1,600 pupils from a total of 20 GEMS schools in the UAE and Qatar completed in excess of 5,000 A-level exams this year

Published: Thu 17 Aug 2023, 11:37 AM

Updated: Thu 17 Aug 2023, 9:59 PM

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Photos: M.Sajjad/KT

Photos: M.Sajjad/KT

Tears of joy, emotional hugs and bursts of laughter were seen all around as students across schools in the UAE arrived to collect their A-level results.

At the GEMS Wellington Academy in Dubai Silicon Oasis, many students arrived with wracked nerves. Rua Shetty picked up her levels and ran outside the school to take a few deep breaths before opening her envelope. She needn’t have worried as she got a two A* and a A. “I did not sleep last night,” she said. “I was just so nervous. I was trying to distract myself but now looking back, it seems like such a long process.”

According to initial reports, UAE students have performed exceedingly well in the exams.

Parent Saeed Farhat said his son Yousef had given him a hard time during the exams. “He was so stressed, and he was stressing me out as well,” he said. “He kept crying that he had not done well enough. I kept trying to console him. He kept saying that he would have really bad grades. And now he has 3 As. I am so happy but also, I am just asking him why he put me through so much stress when he did so well.”

With his results, Yousef has qualified to get into this top choice of university in Netherlands to study Artificial Intelligence (AI). “AI is the future and I think there is a lot of potential to make anything from flying cars to microchips in the head to a personalized kitchen,” he said. “I think I can have a positive impact on the future with this course.”

GEMS Education said its schooling community is celebrating “excellent A-level results, despite the widely publicised expectation that grades would be pushed back down to 2019 levels after teacher-assessed grades replaced exams during the Covid pandemic”.

The Taaleem group reported a 100 per cent pass rate.

More than 1,600 pupils from 20 GEMS schools in the UAE and Qatar completed in excess of 5,000 A-level exams this year, with 24 per cent of entries achieving A* to A grades and almost half – 45 per cent – recording A* to B grades. At the GEMS Wellington Academy – Al Khail, 21 per cent of the school’s 138 A-level entries were awarded the top A* grade. GEMS Jumeirah College, saw 42 per cent of its A-level entries record A* to A grades and 77 per cent A* to B.

Impact of Covid

Dr Saima Rana, chief education officer of the group, said: “Much has been said about the anticipated adjustment following the grade inflation of the Covid years, and while results around the world certainly indicate that this has materialised … we are delighted to note that our students have nonetheless risen to the challenge and achieved outstanding results. Their tenacity, resilience and dedication to their studies is to be commended.”

According to Sarah O'Regan, Principal of GEMS Wellington Academy, Dubai Silicon Oasis, the impact of Covid on results is improving. “Now, we are through the Covid hump and things have reset,” she said. “Next year students will have a much clearer picture of what is needed of them to get the grades they need.”

Bright future

Rebecca Gray, director of Education at Taaleem, said this year the group witnessed its largest cohort yet at UK curriculum schools. “Their resilience and tenacity, especially in an academic year marked by global predictions of lower awards are highly commendable. Furthermore, the exceptional performance of our students has paved the way for their bright futures. A significant number of them have secured placements at some of the UK's most prestigious universities. We are thrilled to share that our graduates will be joining elite institutions such as St. Andrews, London School of Economics, and Durham University.”

Brighton College group has also seen some remarkable results across all its schools in the country. At Brighton College Abu Dhabi one in five grades were awarded an A*. The percentage of top grades achieved this year has almost doubled to those in 2019, with 20% of A Levels awarded A* grades in 2023 compared with 11.5% in 2019. At the Dubai branch of the school, three-quarters of the pupils achieved grades A*- B in the College's first set of A Level results. At Brighton College Al Ain, four in every 10 of this year’s cohort have been awarded A* to A examination grades and over six in every ten pupils have achieved A* to B grades.

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