Top GCSE grades up slightly ahead of major shake-up

Pupils have been opening their GCSE results on Thursday ahead of a major shake-up to qualifications in Wales.

Top GCSE grades in Wales were higher than last year with 62.5% of pupils achieving A* to C, an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared with 2024.

New GCSEs to align with the reformed Curriculum for Wales will start being phased in from September.

Gracie, 16, a pupil at Pen-Y-Dre High School in Merthyr Tydfil, got a set of A*s and As and said she was "so relieved".

Gracie said: "All the hard work has finally paid off.

"I was just in tears to be honest, just pouring it out finally and being able to release all of those emotions."

Ruby, 16, was taken to hospital during one of her exams.

Over the past couple of years, she's been diagnosed with a number of illnesses which have affected her education.

"My attendance went down 40%, the school was very concerned," she said.

"It came to the point where I was being sent home from school every day, they didn't know what to do with me."

Ruby was taken to hospital during one of her exams

"It means a lot to me and my family that I managed to pass exams, and they're over the moon with me, and I'm over the moon myself."

Sam, 16, said: "It was the longest week of my life waiting, it took so long to get to sleep at night so I'm glad it's over."

Sam said he has played sports all his life and is excited to study sports coaching at sixth-form college

Huw Richards, deputy headteacher at the Merthyr Tydfil school said: "We're very, very proud of our children, and there's been a lot of resilience, a lot of determination, a lot of support from parents and guardians along the way.

"The children have gone through ups and downs over the last five years," he said. "They've done really well considering the challenges they faced."

Unlike last week's A-level results, the highest GCSE grades of A* and A were achieved by 19.5% of candidates – a rise of 0.3 percentage points on 2024.

Overall, there were fewer examination entries in 2025 than in the previous year.

A* to C grades were broadly similar in maths and numeracy, while there was a slight improvement for English language.

Fewer pupils studying Welsh got A* to C this year, although there was a slight improvement for those studying Welsh second language.

The pass rate, which means pupils getting grade C or above remains, lower in Wales than in England where a numbered system is used instead.

In England, the percentage of those achieving a 4 (C equivalent) this year was 67.1%, whereas in Wales it was 62.5%.

However, the pass rate in England has gone down overall in 2025 compared with the previous year, whereas in Wales it has improved slightly.

In 2024 there were 62.2% grades at A* to C compared with 62.8% in 2019 and 64.9% in 2023.

Aoife, 16, a pupil at St Joseph's Catholic School in Port Talbot, said before results day: "I was anxious before the exams but I'm hoping my results will show that my hard work has paid off."

Aoife is aiming for top grades when she collects her results and hopes to study A-levels in September before fulfilling her dream of an engineering career in motorsports.

In addition to the core subjects of English, Welsh, maths and the sciences, Aoife chose to study history, French and further maths, and said she "put a lot of pressure on myself when it came to revision".

Catrin from Bala, Gwynedd, is a fourth-generation farmer and wants to continue in agriculture.

Before results day, the 16-year-old said she hoped to get a minimum of five Cs, including maths and Welsh, to study for a Level 3 in agricultural engineering at Coleg Glynllifon.

The Ysgol Godre'r Berwyn pupil who will be opening her results in the car on the way to work said she hoped to get "the right grades that I need for my future".

Careers adviser Dylan Evans said young people could speak to Careers Wales service Working Wales for free if they are looking for guidance.

"My advice to parents of teens collecting their GCSE results this week is to listen and reassure them," he said.

"Reassure them that there's support out there for whatever they want to do next – and if they need to change their plan, that's OK too."

Kyla said she was excited but nervous to pick up her results

Education Secretary Lynne Neagle congratulated students at Ysgol Y Strade in Llanelli who were collecting their results.

"We have seen some strong results at our top grades and across a range of subjects including maths and English. A positive indication that we are moving in the right direction with attainment in our schools.

"I also want to pay tribute to our teachers and education workforce whose support and hard work has helped our learners thrive."

"I wish you Pob lwc, and best wishes for the future," she said.

Ian Morgan, chief executive of Wales' main exam board WJEC, said he expected GCSE results this year to be similar to pre-Covid years.

Year 11 pupils who took their GCSEs this summer moved from primary to secondary school at the height of the pandemic in 2020.

"I think we've seen some challenges over the last four or five years and this is the first year really that learners are able to show their knowledge, understanding and skills in a way that hasn't been impacted by any other changes in the past," he said.

Exams largely returned back to normal last year after measures to reflect the impact of the pandemic were dropped - a more gradual process in Wales than in England.

Another difference is that GCSEs in Wales are graded A* to G, whereas England has a numbered nine to one system.

How were GCSEs changed?

The new Curriculum for Wales started being rolled out in schools three years ago.

Phase one of the changes includes a merged English language and literature GCSE and a new look Welsh second language qualification.

Mr Morgan said the 15 new GCSEs from September were an "exciting opportunity for learners to show what they can do, what they understand, and show their knowledge".

He added: "Now it's up to the teachers, who I know have worked diligently over the last 12 months to better understand the qualifications and specifications, to start teaching from September."

Additional reporting by Bethan Lewis, BBC Wales education and family correspondent