It’s been a bumper year for A-Level results with 424,000 students offered their first or second choice – up 3% on last year
The gap between the very top-performing girls and boys at A-level has narrowed for the first time in five years, as the proportion of A* being awarded to students in 2016 also dropped – from 25.9% in 2015 to 25.8% this year.
The Battle of the Sexes
Boys continued to earn more A*, with 8.5% achieving the very top grade – although this is down from 8.7% last year, contrary to some predictions.
Girls also dropped, from 7.8% at A* to 7.7%, meaning the gap between the two sexes has narrowed to 0.8% from 0.9%.
Including A grades, girls continue to slightly out-perform their male counterparts – with 25.9% for girls compared with 25.8% for boys. Maths, Maths, Maths
Mathematics remains the most popular subject, accounting for 11.0% of all entries, followed by English (10.1%) and biology (7.5%), the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) said. Entries in French, German and Spanish all dropped.
Maths continued to be dominated by boys, with almost 20,000 more boys than girls taking the exam.
Fred Dimbleby, 18, secured A*s in government and politics, history and religious studies at Brighton College in East Sussex to win a place reading history at Keble College, Oxford.
His family is part of a broadcasting dynasty that also includes his uncle Jonathan, the host of BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions", and late grandfather Richa...