Overall English GCSE results at grade C and above were down by 1.5 percentage points this year.
Grants are now only given to those students who achieve at least two A-Levels at grade C.
In GCSE English, 63.9% of entries got at least a grade C, compared with 65.4% last summer.
Just over a third got a grade C or above compared with the 74.2% getting the equivalent Intermediate GNVQ.
Ministers also said it was not acceptable that childcare professionals are not required to have at least GCSE grade C in English and maths.
The group says students were treated unfairly when exam boards raised the mark needed for a grade C between exams taken in January and June.
Mr Oates suggested scores could avoid some of the problems seen last summer, when many GCSE candidates failed to get a predicted grade C in English.
In 2011, just under two fifths - 38.9% - of FSM pupils who were taught at outstanding schools scored five GCSEs at grade C or higher, excluding equivalents.
The tests are the same for both primary and secondary school teacher trainees, who must also have achieved a grade C or above in GCSE maths and English.
In particular the assessor's emails focus on the raising of the grade C boundary on the lower tier English exam paper by 10 marks between January and June.
They've made clear that they made a grade C "more severe" because both the English regulator, Ofqual and the Welsh regulator, the government - jointly - asked them to.
The government has already said it intends to make maths study compulsory to the age of 18 for students who have not achieved a grade C or above at GCSE.
And it has said from September, teenagers will keep studying maths until they are 18 if they have not passed a GCSE in the subject at grade C or above.
According to figures from the Joint Council for General Qualifications - which compiles figures for all exam boards in Wales - 59.7% of all entries passed the exams with grade C or above.
The English Baccalaureate was introduced as a measure of school performance, appearing in league tables, and showing the proportion of pupils achieving GCSEs grade C and above and some AS-levels in specified key subjects.
But, on appeal, the offence was reduced from Grade C to Grade A after the tribunal viewed a video showing the incident from a different angle to the ones presented at the original hearing on Tuesday.
Published in November, the review by former college principal Huw Evans said some employers and universities do not think that a grade C at GCSE English, Welsh and maths is a reliable indicator of literacy and numeracy skills.
"The NUT has always argued that the entry requirements for initial teacher education, which include GCSE passes grade C or above in English and maths, should be sufficient and make the additional skills tests superfluous, " said General Secretary Christine Blower.
Pupils who were given a D grade rather than the expected C grade could mean that difference between staying on at school or dropping out and becoming a Neet, said Kenny Fredericks, head of George Green's School in east London.
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Legg Mason has no independent chairman and a composite Morningstar stewardship grade of C.
Because the league struck equipment deals with grade-C companies, the players were stuck with Pop Warner-esque helmets and clunky Pony shoes.
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They indicate the minimum score on each of the four subject tests for a student who has a 75% chance of earning a grade of C or higher or a 50% chance of earning a B or higher in a typical first-year college course.
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In addition they endorse proposals to make over-16s in England study GCSE maths until they have achieved at least a C grade.
It says more than 10, 000 pupils missed out on a C grade in GCSE English because of what they have called a "statistical fix".
Examiners raised the mark needed for a GCSE English C grade based on their judgement of the quality of the work, lawyers for the examiners have said.
The group argues the issue is particularly acute because of the critical importance of achieving a C grade in GCSE English for future educational and professional opportunities.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) says an independent review should establish how many pupils who were on course for a C grade got a D.
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