Record proportion of A-level students get top grades in England

Of more than 1.1m entries, 28.2% gained A or A* and 9.4% gained A*, though regional variations remain

• A-Level results - live updates

Students in England gained record levels of top grades in this year's A-level exams, driven by young men producing their strongest performances outside the pandemic years.

Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, shrugged off any suggestions of grade inflation, pointing to the lower proportion of 18-year-olds taking A-levels and saying that fewer low-achieving students had entered.