Key statistics in this year’s A-level results

Here are the main figures in this year’s A-level results:

– The proportion of candidates receiving top grades has fallen from last year, but is higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 36.4% of entries were awarded either an A or A*, down from 44.8% in 2021 but up from 25.4% in 2019.

– Around one in seven (14.6%) of entries received an A*. This is down from nearly one in five in 2021 (19.1%), but higher than the figure in 2019, which was 7.7%.

– The overall pass rate (grades A* to E) was 98.4%. This is down from 99.5% in 2021 but up from 97.6% in 2019.

– Some 82.6% received a C or above, down from 88.5% in 2021 but above the pre-pandemic figure of 75.9% in 2019.

– The lead enjoyed by girls over boys in the top grades has narrowed. The proportion of girls who got A or higher this year was 37.4%, 2.2 percentage points higher than boys (35.2%). Last year, girls led boys by 4.8 percentage points (46.9% girls, 42.1% boys).

– Boys have also narrowed the gap in the highest grade, A*. The proportion of girls who got A* was 14.8%, 0.4 percentage points higher than boys (14.4%). Last year the gap was 1.3 points (19.7% girls, 18.4% boys).

– The most popular subject this year was maths. It had 95,635 entries, down 2.1% on 2021.

– Psychology remains the second most popular subject. It had 78,741 entries, up 10.5% on 2021. Biology was once again the third most popular subject, with 71,979 entries, a rise of 2.7%.

– English literature saw the biggest drop in candidates for a single subject with more than 1,000 entries, falling by 9.4% from 39,492 in 2021 to 35,791 this year.

– Design and technology saw the biggest jump in candidates of any subject with more than 1,000 entries, rising by 14.3% from 9,979 to 11,404.

– A total of 848,910 A-levels were awarded, up 2.9% on last year’s 824,718.