A-level results: Northern Ireland students relive results 'rollercoaster'

It has been a strange couple of years for the 25,000 or so A-level students across Northern Ireland who are finding out their results.

The vast majority of them will not have taken formal summer exams, as their GCSE and AS-level exams were cancelled due to the pandemic.

For Molly Hannaway, that made the process "incredibly daunting".

But having obtained four A*s, the Londonderry student is now off to Glasgow to study medicine.

"I am so relieved, I am just so over the moon," the former Foyle College pupil said.

"Glasgow was my first choice so I am just delighted that I can now start to get everything ready for that."

Molly said she had little experience of sitting any formal school examinations throughout secondary school before her A-levels, due to Covid-19.

"It was a rollercoaster for everyone, especially because a lot of us were doing subjects that we have never properly been examined on," she added.

"Also, because we did so much of our learning at home, it meant that we were sort of plunged in at the deep end and were trying to get everything together in time because you had to know things from previous years that you may have missed out on because of Covid.

"It wasn't easy on us."

Overall, there has been a fall in the number of A-level entries in Northern Ireland awarded top A* and A grades in 2022

But the proportion of top grades is much higher than in 2019, the previous year when results were based on exams.

Foyle College principal Patrick Allen described this year's AS-level and A-level results as fantastic for the school after what has been a challenging 12 months.

"We are absolutely delighted with the outcomes for our students," Mr Allen told BBC Radio Foyle.

"There has been a lot of talk and speculation that results would go down, but in actual fact we have held the level of grades, the A*-C %, that we obtained last year.

"We feel that is a vindication for the robustness of our processes last year and just reward for the extreme levels of hard work that both staff and students put in over the last 12 challenging months."

Mr Allen said his biggest concern with this year's cohort is the greater competition for university places.

"One of our main tasks today is getting on to the UCAS portal, our career staff will check to see who has achieved their main or reserve places, and then help support any pupils who may need support with clearing and contacting universities."

Louise Warde Hunter, principal and chief executive at Belfast Metropolitan College, said it had "continued to see success this year".

"We have seen overall the number of our successful students rise, although there has been a bit of recalibration on grades, that is in common with the rest of the system," she said.

"I have to commend these young people, who have delivered these qualifications against another very tough background."

Peter Wilson sat A-levels in politics, history and sociology at Belfast Metropolitan College and obtained two A*s and a B.

"Way beyond what I was expecting, but really happy," he said.

"I am hoping to go to Ulster University in Belfast to do a sociology and criminology degree, which I am hoping will take me into a role in the Civil Service, after a few years.

"It has been a tough couple of years for people with Covid and everything else, but I think everyone has done a fantastic job, showing great resilience in how they have got through the last couple of years."

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Professor Paul Seawright, deputy vice-chancellor of Ulster University, said the number of applications for courses were up, but it was trying to be flexible in offering opportunities "for as many people as possible".

"There is this story out there that there are fewer places for people, but actually we have made places available for people on almost all courses on all campuses," he said.

"We are really keen on getting people back on campus to enjoy a campus-based experience after the last two years."

Anna Lindsay, a pupil at St Paul's High, Bessbrook, took exams in maths, technology and construction, and is planning to study quantity surveying.

"I got two As and a distinction star," she said.

"It was quite tough coming up to exams because you didn't really have that process recently, because the last exam I sat was in fourth year.

"It was a bit unexpected what was going to come up, but I got through it."

Owen Cromie, a pupil at St Paul's High School in Bessbrook was studying history, religion and digital technology, and is going to study law at Ulster University.

He said he obtained an A and two Bs which were the course requirements.

"The partying is starting right now," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster.