A-level passes and A grades up

There has been another increase in the A-level pass rate and the proportion of entries awarded the top A grade.

Figures show 97.2 per cent of entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland passed, up from 96.9 per cent last year..

A grades went to 25.9 per cent of the entries, an increase over last year's 25.3 per cent.

There were a record 827,737 A-level entries and 1.13 million AS-levels this year from more than 600,000 students.