Results and Clearing 2025
TOP INSIGHTS FOR THE EDUCATION SECTOR
Student sentiment and on-site activity around Results Day.
SQA Results Day
(Tuesday 5th August)
Scotland’s Learners Hit New Highs - SQA Results Day 2025
Today, 147,000 students across Scotland received their results, and the data tells a powerful story of achievement, opportunity, and change.
According to the Scottish Qualifications Authority, the 2024–25 academic session has delivered:
- Higher attainment across all levels (National 5, Higher, and Advanced Higher)
- A narrowing poverty-related attainment gap – a promising step for widening participation
- A record-breaking 110,390 vocational and technical awards – up 22.6% year-on-year
- Over 200,000 Higher entries – the highest since CfE was introduced in 2014
Learners are embracing qualifications that develop real-world skills in areas such as cybersecurity, personal finance, employability, and mental health. This is an clear indication of a system working to support life-readiness, not just exam success. With over 130,000 learners participating from 480+ institutions, this year’s results reflect both scale and substance.
The week before A-level, BTEC and T-Level Results Day
(Published Thursday 7th August)
Clearing on The Student Room so far...
Weekly pageviews for August are growing ever day, with Thursday 7th delivering 480,000 pageviews.
More users than ever are showing explicit interest in a range of universities when visiting The Student Room:
- 16.5% more users showing interest in high tariff
- 6.7% more users showing interest in medium tariff
- 6% more users showing interest in low tariff
Students aren't the only ones posting, however - university ambassadors have posted 546 times sine 1st August, with over 120,000 post views!
A-level, BTEC and T-Level Results Day
Published Thursday 14th August
Strong first-choice success and a slight rise in top grades mark 2025 A-level results
Reports this morning show that 82% of offer-holders have successfully got their first choice, matching last year’s figures. The Number of students taking A levels is stable, with 341,577 students taking A levels in 2025 vs 341,710 in 2024.
Top grades have edged up too. 28.3% of all A-level results were awarded at A* or A, compared with 27.8% last year. The average number of A levels per student remains steady at 2.6.
Most popular subjects in 2025 by entry:
- Mathematics – 112,138 entries (12.7%)
- Psychology – 75,943 entries (8.6%)
- Biology – 71,400 entries (8.1%)
Grades compared with 2024:
- A* grades: up 0.1pp
- A*–A: up 0.5pp
- A*–E: up 0.3pp
Across the nations, England and Northern Ireland have seen small increases in the proportion of A*–A grades, while Wales recorded a slight fall:
- England: 28.2% (↑ from 27.6%)
- Wales: 29.5% (↓ from 29.9%)
- Northern Ireland: 30.4% (↑ from 30.3%)
Conversations on The Student Room
Sentiment on morning of Results Day (14th August)
Today’s sentiment score is 7.2, up from 5.9 yesterday. This is just below the same point last year, when sentiment stood at 7.4.
Today’s unique search terms show a strong focus on Clearing, with “clearing” and “clearing numbers” among the most popular. Interest in medicine is also high, with “medicine clearing 2025” and “medicine clearing” featuring prominently.
Trends and conversations: Afternoon of Results Day (14th August)
Engagement on site:
TSR Audiences are more research active on site than last year with:
- Page views per session up 4%
- Post per poster up 8%
- The Uni Guide course comparison site is up 9% YoY
- Article page views up 25%
Top Categories of TUG articles
- Clearing and Results Day
- UCAS Application
- A-Level Choices
- Choosing a Course
- GCSE Choices
- Preparing for University
Forum activity
- Top tariff university mentions up 42%
- low tariff university mentions up 6%
- Threads started in university up 10%
Our Clearing database:
Top performing subjects by click rate:
- Computing - avg 18.2% - defying national decline in computing entries, showing highly motivated pool
- Engineering avg 15.95% - strong across all timings
- Nursing and midwifery - avg 1 4.8% - consistent with strong healthcare presence on site
- Art and design - avg 15.4% - creative disciplines performing above expectations
Business & management, and Law saw slightly lower CTRs despite national growth in law.
What This Means
- High-intent audiences – pre-Results Day SMS sends (12–13 Aug) delivered strong results.
- STEM & healthcare campaigns align with both market growth and our own engagement spikes.
- Creative subjects still performing well with precise targeting.
- Law & Business need sharper differentiation to cut through a crowded Clearing market.
- Lower-tariff institutions may require urgency messaging and incentives to compete with high-tariff attention.
This afternoon’s poll shows that many Year 13 students are feeling positive after opening their results. Over 57% told us they either exceeded expectations or got the grades they needed, with 21.76% celebrating results above their predictions and 35.88% meeting their goals.
While some students faced disappointment with 22.94% didn’t get everything they expected and 17.06% missed the grades they needed. Conversations on The Student Room show that many are already exploring next steps through Clearing and alternative pathways:
got into my firm (city st george's university of london)
I got into my firm! so out in town celebrating with a few friends now
I have been confirmed/accepted at my firm choice.......
This afternoon, the busiest areas on The Student Room reflect students’ focus on next steps and career ambitions. Medicine tops the list, followed by forums supporting subject choices, study help, and the Clearing process. Discussions around Medical Schools and Dentistry also feature strongly, highlighting continued high interest in competitive healthcare pathways.
A-level, BTEC and T-Level Results Day and one day on
Published Friday 15th August
Headline engagement stats
- Sentiment score: 6.5 (+6% YoY)
- Peak traffic: 7–10 am
- Avg time on site: +11% YoY
- Pageviews per session: +9% YoY
- Application & uni posting: up 17% YoY
- 700 rep/ambassador posts → 153,277 views
The Uni Guide
- TUG article views: +18% YoY
- Top categories: A-Level Choices, Choosing a Course, Clearing & Results Day, GCSE Choices
- Growth in Open Days & Preparing for University content
Even during Clearing, students are looking ahead,from course choice to university
preparation, opening opportunities for awareness and nurture campaigns.
Top searches
- Clearing
- Medicine Clearing
- A-Level Results
Results Day morning saw intense bursts of competitive course activity. In the afternoon, we saw more early cycle and parent engagement, showing TSR’s reach beyond just Results Day decisions
