The proportion of A-level entries awarded top grades has surpassed pre-pandemic highs.

Overall, more than a quarter (27.8%) of UK entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up by 0.6 percentage points on last year when 27.2% achieved the top grades.

It is the highest proportion of entries scoring top grades outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22, according to the figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).

In 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic – 25.4% of entries were awarded A or A* grades.

Hundreds of thousands of students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their exam results in a year when grading was due to be restored to 2019 levels in all three nations.

As A-level results were published, separate Ucas figures showed that the number of applicants accepted on to UK degree courses has risen this year.

The higher education admissions service said 82% of UK 18-year-old applicants awaiting a decision on results day secured their first choice – which was up from 79% last year and 74% in 2019.

Nearly one in 10 (9.3%) of UK entries were awarded the top A* grade this year, compared with 8.9% in 2023 and 7.7% in 2019.

Excluding 2020-2022, the years of the pandemic, this is the highest proportion of A* grades awarded since they were first handed out in 2010.

A total of 4,135 students in England alone scored three A* grades, according to separate figures from Ofqual. This is up from 3,820 last year and 2,785 in 2019.

It comes after Covid-19 led to an increase in top grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

In England, exams regulator Ofqual had said it expected this year’s A-level results to be “broadly similar” to last year, when grades were restored to pre-pandemic levels.

Ofqual’s chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham said: “There is no grade inflation this year. Standards have been maintained from 2023. Any change is largely due to the ability of the cohort.”

He told the PA news agency: “What we’ve got is a situation this year where we’ve got students who have achieved fractionally stronger standards of work and got fractionally stronger results as a consequence.”

In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators said they aimed to return to pre-pandemic grading this summer – a year later than in England.

Nearly 14,100 more top A-level grades (A*-A) were awarded in England alone than last year, exam boards said.

But the results also showed regional differences in outcomes and a widening attainment gap between private and state schools, sparking fresh concerns about an education divide.

The latest Ofqual figures, which cover England only, show 49.4% of A-level entries at independent schools this year were awarded A and above, compared with 22.3% at comprehensives – a gap of 27.1 percentage points.

All regions also saw a higher proportion of entries awarded A* or A this year compared with the pre-pandemic year of 2019, but London and south-east England were the only areas to see figures above 30%, with the next highest region – eastern England – some way behind on 27.5%.

The capital saw the highest proportion of entries awarded A and above, at 31.3%, while the East Midlands had the lowest, at 22.5%.

The cohort of students who are receiving their results were in Year 9 when schools shut due to Covid-19, and they were the first year group to sit GCSE exams after they were cancelled for two years in a row.

Speaking on A-level results day, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This government is committed to breaking down barriers to make sure that all young people, wherever they are from, have the knowledge and skills to seize opportunity.”

The overall pass rate – the proportion of entries graded A* to E – has fallen to 97.2% this year, which is lower than last year (97.3%) and the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (97.6%).

In A-levels, boys have pulled further ahead of girls at the top grade this year, with 9.5% of boys’ entries scoring an A* compared with 9.1% of girls’ entries – a gap of 0.4 percentage points. Last year the gap was 0.3 percentage points.

Boys have traditionally led girls, scoring more A* grades than their female classmates every year between 2012 and 2019. But girls overtook boys between 2020 and 2022 – the years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Girls continued to outperform boys at A* and A but the gender gap has narrowed again this year.

Leaders in the education sector have warned that this cohort of young people has had to overcome a series of challenges – and those from disadvantaged backgrounds have been hit the worst.

Just days before the academic year was due to start last year, a number of schools were forced to offer remote learning when reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete was found in buildings.

A one-off uplift to exam marks has not been granted to all pupils who had their education disrupted by the concrete crisis despite calls from schools and families affected.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “While the dark days of the pandemic are in the past, its legacy continues to haunt us, as many of these students experienced severe disruption to their education.

“In particular, this impacted upon young people from disadvantaged backgrounds whose families were also adversely affected by the subsequent cost-of-living crisis.”

Jill Duffy, chairwoman of the JCQ board of directors and chief executive of the OCR exam board, said: “With A-level grades similar to last year, Gen Z students and their teachers will see some much-needed continuity and stability after the disruptions of the pandemic.”

In England, 7,380 students received their T-level results in the third year that the qualification has been awarded – and 88.7% achieved at least a pass.

Around 250,000 results were also issued to students who took level 3 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) this year.

Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week.