Teenagers who moved from primary to secondary school in the middle of the pandemic are waking up to their GCSE results this morning.
The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment says this year's outcomes are just above 2024.
CCEA reveals 31.6 per cent of students achieved grade A/7 and above compared to exactly 31 per cent last year.
83.5 per cent achieved grade C/4 and above, as against 82.7 per cent in 2024.
The total number of entries was slightly down, but was in line with the drop in the total number of pupils.
Interim Director of Qualifications at CCEA, Michael McAuley is urging students, parents, and teachers to take advantage of the results helpline
The line is open Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, until next Wednesday.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) published the 2025 Northern Ireland provisional results for over 32,000 GCSE students this morning
The total number of GCSE entries in Northern Ireland have decreased by 1.1 per cent from 175,555 in 2024 to 173,675 in 2025.
This is in line with the school population decrease in Northern Ireland this year of 1.0 per cent.
31.6 per cent of students achieved grade A/7 and above in GCSE, compared to 31.0 per cent in 2024. 83.5 per cent received grades C/4 and above, an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to 2024.
In GCSE English Language, 25.1 per cent of students achieved A/7 and above, compared to 24.7 per cent in 2024. 84.0 per cent of students were awarded grade C/4 and above, in comparison to 82.5 per cent in 2024.
This year’s figures for GCSE Mathematics show that 27.1 per cent of students achieved A/7 grade and above, compared to 27.8 per cent in 2024. 73.1 per cent of students were awarded a grade C/4 or above, which is similar to the 73.0 per cent in 2024.
Overall, 41.4 per cent of all GCSE entries are in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects.
