The number of top A-level grades has increased marginally, as the most popular subjects have been revealed.

Hundreds of thousands of students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their exam results on Thursday – with the number achieving A* grades up 0.4% from last year, to 9.3%, and the number of A*-A grades up 0.6% from last year, reaching 27.8%.

It was the first year the entire UK returned to pre-pandemic approaches to grading, exam authorities said. While England returned last year, Northern Ireland and Wales only did so for the first time in 2024.

Grades were broadly similar to last year, but some subjects saw noticeable differences in entries.

While the top ten most popular subjects didn’t change, STEM subjects surged in popularity.

Further Maths experienced the largest increase – up 19.9%.

Maths itself became the first subject to break 100,000 students taking it up, with a rise of 10.2% from last year to 107,427.

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Physics saw a 12.3% increase and Computer Science entries were up by 11.3% as well.

There were some movements in regional inequalities of grades, with London displacing the South East as the highest-performing area in terms of A*-A grades.

The West Midlands saw the biggest increase in top grades, up 1.92% but the North East rose 1.82% – meaning it is no longer the lowest performing region.

The East Midlands grew the least in regards to top grades.

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A*-A grades in Wales and Northern Ireland fell sharply this year but this was said to be down to a return to pre-pandemic grading in both nations.

The number of disadvantaged students securing a place at universities also hit a record high, according to UCAS.

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Of the 425,680 applicants who were accepted onto university courses, a 3% increase on last year, 82% of them got into their first choice.

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