The proportion of A* grades achieved by A Level students in England has risen by 3.2 per cent in a year, with regional and gender gaps widening. In 2026, 9.7 per cent of grades awarded to 18-year-olds were at A*, up from 9.4 per cent in 2025, data published by the Joint Council for Qualifications shows. Overall the proportion of top grades also rose. This year 28.7 per cent of grades were an A or A*, up from 28.2 per cent last year. These figures have been climbing since 2023, when grading was adjusted to bring results nearer to pre-pandemic norms. Ian Bauckham, chief regulator at Ofqual, said: “These qualifications open doors for students because they are so widely recognised and trusted. “A Levels are trusted because they are awarded to rigorous and consistent national standards. Universities, employers, and students can have confidence that an A Level grade represents what students know and can do.” Gaps grow This year’s results show a number of gaps widening. The gender gap in top grades has widened in favour of boys, who outperformed girls last year for the first time since the Covid pandemic. However, girls make up 54 per cent of A Level entries, so the overall number of top grades issued to girls is still higher. The gap between the best-performing and worst-performing regions has also widened to 9.6 percentage points. London continues to have the best results, with 32.7 per cent of grades at an A or above, an increase of 0.6 percentage points. The East Midlands now shares the bottom spot with the north east following a 0.7 percentage point drop in top grades to 23.1 per cent. The east of England and north west also saw a slight fall in top grades, bucking the national trend. ‘Significant disparities’ Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, noted that “while the year-on-year results are largely consistent, this also means that very significant disparities continue to exist between the English regions in terms of top grades. “These results are clearly affected by relative levels of socioeconomic disadvantage and reflect the structural inequalities which exist in our nation. “Every year we say that we cannot go on like this and that as a society we must do more to support communities which often feel abandoned and neglected. When will we actually do that?” He added the results were a “culmination of a great deal of hard work, and everybody involved deserves enormous credit for their commitment. “It is important to remember that today is not only about celebrating A Levels and that many thousands of young people take a range of equivalent qualifications in technical and vocational subjects which are vital both to their progression and to providing the skills base of the nation.” T Level performance improves T Level results for England show 92.6 per cent of 19,665 participating students achieved a pass or above, up from 91.4 per cent last year. Almost 69 per cent achieved a merit or better, up from 65.3 per cent. This year, the JCQ has published the results of 421 vocational and technical qualifications alongside A Levels, up from 201 in 2025. Its chief executive, Margaret Farragher, said she hoped the move “brings better transparency of the full range of qualifications schools and colleges offer to support students progress into work, apprenticeships or higher and further education”. She also congratulated “all students receiving their results” and offered a “sincere thank you to the school and college staff, parents and carers who have helped students achieve the results awarded today”. Will we see an ‘Odyssey effect’? As revealed earlier this year, there have been big rises in the number of entries to politics, law, economics and further maths. Entries dropped in English literature, drama and classical subjects. Myles McGinley, managing director of exam board Cambridge OCR noted that economics was “surging in popularity”. “The students getting their A Level results today were born around 2008: they are children of the financial crisis and many have been gripped by the more recent economic events that shape their world.” He also noted classics entries were down “but we expect that to change” following the release of Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. “We’re already hearing from teachers and students about ‘The Odyssey effect’. This year has shown the classics can be interesting to everyone.” Drop in first-choice uni place success Data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) shows that as of this morning, 78.3 per cent of England’s 18-year-olds have got a place at their first-choice university, down slightly from 81.5 per cent last year. The proportion getting a place at one of their back-up choices rose from 11.6 to 13.6 per cent. UCAS chief executive Jo Saxton, a former Ofqual chief regulator, pointed out today’s school leavers “were just starting secondary school when the pandemic interrupted their education. “Given the significant disruption they faced at such a formative stage of their learning, it is wonderful to see so many young people getting a place at university or college. I’m delighted to see them backing themselves and choosing to invest in their education.”