This is the first year in which the majority of students were examined in the new, linear A Levels.
The A-Level results are out and students who passed the rigorous exam are celebrating on Thursday.
So far the highest score in the UAE is Edward Garemo, with 8A* from Brighton College Abu Dhabi.
One of them is 17-year-old Pakistani student Khadijah Sharjil Anwar, who got the highest marks at Jumeirah College (JC) with 4 A*s in Psychology, Chemistry, Maths and Furtther Maths.
She will be entering next Fall term as freshman at Princeton University taking up Public Health Policy. Speaking, she said: "I'm beyond thrilled. I worked so hard for this and I'm very grateful to my teachers."
Her father Sharjil Anwar, who works as a CFO for a holding company, added: "I'm very delighted with my daughter's exam results. She really worked hard for it; she was very focused and now she's going to one of the top universities in the world."
Other toppers at JC are Kelly Stewart, Jasmina Eldamanhoury and Rahul Lobo who all got 3 A*s each; while Michael Ash, Saiqa Pirmohamed, Florence Risbridger and Jhanvi Bhojwani scored 2 A*s each; and Jocely Ross, Sharheel Ahmed and Cara Wason 1A* each.
JC principal Simon O'Connor said: "We've done it again. A Level results at JC are, yet again, outstanding. Over 400 A Levels were sat and 11 per cent achieved an A* with 41 per cent at either A* or A grade and 55 per cent of the students achieved no lower than a B grade."
"We are thrilled that, yet again, our students have achieved such wonderful results. The majority of the subjects were new specifications this year and, as a result, teachers did not have the resources that they have had historically or a clarity of what was required. Not only that, but the new courses are significantly harder. This makes the results all the more impressive," he added.
Students from Our Own English High School - Al Ain, The Winchester School - Jebel Ali and The Cambridge High School - Abu Dhabi have received outstanding grades as well. Varun Menon, from The Winchester School - Jebal Ali, is the GEMS highest achiever and has achieved outstanding 5 A*s.
Brendan Law, Vice President of Education - British Cluster at GEMS Education, said: "These exceptional examination results are a testament to the hard work of our students. I would like to express how proud I am to see that GEMS Education students have once again over-achieved in their A Level exam results. We wish our students every success in their projects and studies beyond GEMS Education, as their futures appear to be very bright indeed."
Students at Dubai College (DC) also celebrated another successful set of A Level results with 59 per cent of all examinations provisionally awarded an A or A* and 25 per cent of all grades awarded an A*.
DC head of Sixth Form, Bobby Trivic, said: "One third of our cohort achieved all As and A*s and nine students are celebrating the rare achievement of gaining a full house of A*s, ensuring they met their respective offers from Cambridge, Imperial, Yale, UC Berkeley, Queens in Canada and University College, Dublin."
Ellie O'Keeffe, who will be heading to the University of Cambridge to study Medicine, garnered 5 A*s while Josh Kotecha, Hugo Dolan, Mitali Doshi, Satadru Sanyal, Aaron Aspinwall, Murtaza Javaid and Sungyoung Kim all got 4 A*s each and Rachel De Sousa earned 3 A*s.
"These successes are in the context of a climate of ongoing uncertainty surrounding the A Level reforms that have been taking place over the past three years. This is the first year in which the majority of students were examined in the new, linear A Levels, widely acknowledged to be richer in content and greater in difficulty than the old generation of examinations," Trivic said.
Trivic, expressed great pride in the students' accomplishments, saying: "We know how difficult it is to achieve top grades in these new A Levels, so for our students to achieve an A* in one quarter of all examinations sat is testament to their hard work and multidisciplinary talents. It is reassuring to see that Dubai College students are maintaining very high levels of achievement and still gaining access to the very best seats of learning in the world with 3 students heading to each of Oxford and Cambridge and a further 6 students heading to Ivy League schools."
In Abu Dhabi, Aldar Academies Al Yasmina Academy's cohort of 38 A-Level students earned a 100 per cent passing rate overall, with 87 per cent achieving one or more A* to C grades ad 71 per cent of students gained one or more A* to B grades, a three per cent rise over last year's results.
Moreover, eight per cent of students achieved all A* to A grades, with 34 per cent gaining one or more A* to A grades.
"We're thrilled to celebrate another year of rising A-Level results, especially against the backdrop of our "outstanding" rating as an overseas British School (BSO) earlier this year," commented Dr Tim Hughes, Al Yasmina Academy principal.
"It's been hugely satisfying to see our students exceed expectations and make outstanding progress - in particular, their exceptional performance in the STEM disciplines, which are such an integral part of our future-focused curriculum," he added.
Amber Harding, the academy's highest achiever with 2 As* and 2 A grades, who will study biomedicine at Maastricht University in The Netherlands, said: "I did cry when I opened my results - there was definitely a feeling of relief and overwhelming happiness. I was lucky to have teachers around me that were so willing to put in the extra hours to help, but this also took hours and hours of independent study."
Another school topper, Zaid Jaffrey, who earned 2 As* and 1 A and will take up Electrical Engineering at Imperial College London," said: "Organization, consistency, hard work and, of course, the support of my teachers were so important to my success. Their door was always open for me."
Other top performers at the school include British student Callum Lynn who earned 3 A grades and Mexican student Jimena Del Valle Lopez Vallejo who earned 1 A*, 1A and 1B.
SOURCE : KHALEEJTIMES