The results are in – STEM subjects more popular at A level

The UK’s A level results were announced last week and showed an increase in STEM subject choices.

Entries for maths broke through the 100,000 student entries for the first time this year, with 107,427 students sitting the A level exam. This was up 10.9% compared to 2023 entries. It was also the fastest growing A level subject in 2024 and there were also increases in the number of entries for physics and computer science.

Further maths also saw entries increase by nearly 20% to 18,082 and physics was up by 12.3% (43,114 entries). This kept maths, biology, chemistry and physics in the top 10 subject choices in the UK. Despite an increase in modern foreign language exam entries, they still do not make the top 10 choices, although history, business studies, sociology, art and design and economics do, according to Which School Advisor. Psychology is the second most popular exam subject after maths.

The grades for these exams also increased slightly, following a reset in 2023 after the covid pandemic meant the way exams were sat and marked were changed. A* grades across all subjects rose to 9.3% this year, compared to 8.9% in 2023 and A*-A grades increased slightly from 27.2% in 2023 to 27.8% across all subjects.

Which School Advisor also reports an 11% rise in university placements in engineering and technology courses.