Exams check shows 168 students missed first-choice university

Only 1,089 university students' results have been amended as a result of A-Level regrading following this year's exams controversy, according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) today.

UCAS figures showed that just 168 students missed out on their first choice university and 73 on their first choice degree course as a result of being downgraded in the original marking process.

Taking into account AS levels as well, a total of 1,945 students received at least one improved AS or A-Level grade in the regrading exercise, said the chairman of the inquiry into what went wrong with the exams.

The mammoth regrading operation exercise saw England's three exam boards go over more than 300,000 entries submitted by more than 91,000 candidates.

UCAS said its records showed that all the under-graduates whose grades went up as a result of the exercise took exams sat by Oxford and Cambridge and RSA (OCR), the board which had to do the largest amount of re-grading.

The list of subjects at AS-Level and A2, as the second half of the A-Level introduced in 2000 is known, which had to be re-graded were English literature, music, physics B and Spanish.

The list of subjects where grades went up at A2 level only was chemistry, French, geography B, German, history and science.

All were in exams set by OCR.

Mike Tomlinson, who chaired the inquiry, said a total of 9,800 entries had grades in at least one unit changed while grade boundaries in 18 units out of the 78 reviewed were adjusted as a result of the exercise.

Overall, grades for 1,953 A and AS-Level entries went up, of which 733 were in AS-Levels and 1,220 for A-Levels.

Mr Tomlinson paid tribute to the hard work of the boards who completed the exercise in less than two weeks.

He acknowledged the outcome was unlikely to satisfy everyone.

In a letter to Education Secretary Estelle Morris, he said: "I recognise that despite this process, some schools, colleges and students will continue to be unhappy with the outcomes, either because their subjects were not included in the review, or, if they were, the grades did not change or did not change as much as they had hoped, or their concerns were outside the scope of the review of grading."

But he added: "Despite this, I believe that with the conclusion of this first stage of my inquiry the original concerns expressed about this year's grading process have been satisfied."

UCAS said that of the 1,089 undergraduates whose results changed, 689 had already been accepted by their first choice university despite having the wrong grades.

Of the other 400, 232 had not received any offers from universities, and therefore had none to meet.

That left 168 "who may or may not wish to consider transferring to new institution", said UCAS.

Universities had been bracing themselves for a huge problem trying to accommodate potentially thousands of extra students on their original first choice courses.

Ms Morris promised them extra money to meet demand if and when students opted to start again next year.

The scores of under-graduates who could have gone to their first choice university after all now have to decide whether to stay put or take an unexpected year out before starting all over again next autumn.

The other two boards, Edexcel and the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) had no re-grading to do as a result of the exercise, Mr Tomlinson said.

Edexcel chief executive John Kerr said: "As we maintained from the outset, all Edexcel grades for the AS and A2 examinations were determined fairly, professionally and accurately.

"All grades were set within the code of practice and without the influence of any external pressures."

All Edexcel grades reflect the performance of the students for these units and are consistent with standards applied in previous years.

"What is now important is for us to work with other parties - the Government, regulator, teachers and other boards - to rebuild confidence in what I believe is essentially a valuable qualification."

Exam watchdog the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said that last year a total of 4,194 people had an A-Level grade changed, while the figure for AS-Level candidates was 3,375.

The results of the 2002 re-grade look low by comparison, but do not include those candidates who would have queried their results anyway, as happens every year.

Students who feel they were unfairly treated by the boards have until February 14 to lodge appeals, said the QCA.

Schools Minister David Miliband insisted confidence in the examinations system would now be restored.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The uncertainty is now over, not just for the students who have been regraded, but also for the other students who have had confirmed that their grades are correct.

"Secondly, lessons will be learned from this process. Flaws have been exposed in the way the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the independent regulatory body, regulates the examining boards.

"The second stage of the Tomlinson review will get to the bottom of these problems and ensure that in the future we do not suffer these problems again."

On the students already affected, Mr Miliband said: "We will do everything in our power to support those students who do want to change universities and I'm pleased to say the universities have cooperated very closely with us.

"And what they have said is that anyone who does want to change university will be able to, if not this year, then next year."