publication to improve the interpretability and accessibility of this report . The results from this model also relate to a broader population of learners , including some who would otherwise have been discarded from the matching analysis because they were too dissimilar from the group of learners living in Uni Connect areas . We felt that the matching analysis was more closely aligned with the aims of this evaluation for this reason .
g . We adjusted the threshold for the number of GCSEs at grades A * to C or ( 9 to 4 ) that learners were required to hold to be included in the matched analysis . We tried changing this threshold from five to both four and six .
h . We tried limiting the population of learners from Uni Connect areas to only those who appeared to have attended a school with some recorded engagement , apart from the comparison cohort in 2016 .
12 . None of the adjustments above made any substantial difference to the findings of this analysis ; we continued to find no evidence of a reduction in the application rate gap after matching in any year since 2016 .
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