Five Big Things to Know About Exam Results Day 2026

About 40% of 18-year-olds in England sit A-levels each summer. This year, 28.5% of all A-level grades were marked A* or A, up from 28.3% last year. That is still well below the results from 2020 and 2021, when real exams were cancelled and teachers gave out grades instead. After those high years, exam boards worked to bring results back to normal levels, which they reached in England in 2023 and in Wales and Northern Ireland in 2024. Since that drop, top grades have been slowly creeping back up each year.

The breakdown by country showed small but steady gains everywhere. In England, 28.3% of grades were A* or A, up from 28.2% the year before. In Wales, the figure rose from 29.5% to 29.6%, and in Northern Ireland it went from 30.3% to 30.7%. These increases are small, but they show a clear upward trend across all three nations. Exam boards say grading is still in line with pre-pandemic standards.

A record number of 18-year-olds in the UK have been accepted into university, according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, known as Ucas. The biggest growth was at the most selective universities — sometimes called 'higher tariff' or Russell Group universities — which took in 5.5% more UK students than last year. Even so, the percentage of students who got into their first-choice university actually fell, dropping from 82% to 79%, because there are simply more 18-year-olds in the country than before. Many universities are still advertising places through a process called Clearing, which lets students apply for spots that are still open after results day. Jo Saxton, chief executive of Ucas, said teenagers could 'absolutely still go to university in the autumn' if they wanted to.

Universities are under serious financial pressure. Four in ten universities in England are expected to report a financial deficit — meaning they spend more than they take in — in 2025–26. This is partly because tuition fees have been frozen for a long time, and fewer international students are coming to study in the UK. Taking on more UK students helps, but many universities are counting on Clearing to fill their remaining spots. Some students, worried about the cost of living away from home, are using Clearing to find courses closer to where they live.

T-levels are a newer type of qualification that combines classroom learning with on-the-job training in technical subjects. This is the fifth year students have received T-level results, and the numbers have grown fast — more than 19,600 students got grades this year across 21 subjects, compared to 11,900 students in 18 subjects last year. The pass rate also improved slightly, rising from 91.4% to 92.6%, and more students earned a merit grade or higher. The prime minister has said he wants pupils in England to start studying technical subjects as early as Year 10. T-levels are part of a wider push to make technical education a strong alternative to university.

One concern is that the dropout rate for T-levels remains high. About 77% of students who started their T-level in 2024 finished and received results this year, meaning roughly one in four did not complete the course on time. T-levels are also still much smaller in scale than A-levels — around 300,000 vocational and technical grades were given out this year compared to more than 800,000 A-level grades for 18-year-olds alone. Still, interest in technical fields is growing. According to Ucas, university acceptances for engineering and technology subjects jumped 16% compared to last year.

One of the most talked-about findings this year is the growing gap between regions in England. In London, 32.7% of A-level grades were A* or A. In the North East and East Midlands, that figure was just 23.1% — a gap of 9.6 percentage points, up from 9.2 last year. This is the largest regional gap ever recorded since the A* grade was introduced in 2010. Henri Murison of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said the differences were caused by 'persistent long-term disadvantage.' Chris Zarraga of Schools North East said schools in different parts of England were 'not operating on a level playing field.'

Some experts pointed out that inequality also exists within regions, not just between them. Myles McGinley of Cambridge OCR noted there were 'severe inequalities within the capital itself,' for example between the boroughs of Richmond and Hounslow. The gap between London and every other region in England has widened since last year. Schools in the North East did improve their top grade percentages, but London moved ahead even faster. Critics say this shows deep structural problems that go beyond what any single school can fix on its own.

When it comes to gender, more girls than boys received A* and A grades in total — 137,000 compared to 120,900. But more girls sit A-levels in the first place, so looking at percentages tells a different story. Among boys, 28.9% of all their grades were A* or A, compared to 28% of girls' grades. This means boys are now slightly more likely to earn a top grade, a trend that first appeared last year and has grown wider in 2026. It is a change from the past, when girls used to outperform boys at the very top grades.

Girls still perform better than boys across a wider range of grades, though. For example, 79.8% of all grades given to girls were marked between A* and C, compared to 76.8% of boys' grades. So while boys are pulling ahead at the very top, girls are doing better across the middle and upper range of results overall. Experts say both trends are worth watching closely in the years ahead. The debate about gender and exam performance is likely to continue as schools and policymakers look for ways to support all students.