Summer 2023 saw a return to pre-pandemic grading in England, although with protection in place to recognise the disruption that students faced during the pandemic. This grading approach meant that overall outcomes in summer 2023 were lower than last year but similar to 2019 levels - the last ‘normal’ summer exam series before the pandemic.

A Levels entries increased by 2.2% this year (to 867,658) compared to an increase of 0.5% in the 18-year-old UK population, suggesting that a higher proportion of young people took A Levels in 2023.

Overall outcomes
Overall, A Level results are similar to 2019. In England, 26.5% of A Levels were graded at A and above (25.2% in 2019).   Across the UK, outcomes at grade A and above were slightly higher at 27.2% (25.4% in 2019).

3,820 A Level students achieved 3 A* grades in England (2,785 in 2019).

The average number of A Levels taken by 18-year-olds in England has barely changed since 2017 (2.6 in 2023).  Less than 5% of students took four A Levels this year.

Popularity of subjects
Across the UK, Maths remains the most popular A Level subject accounting for 11.2% (96,853) of all A Level entries.  The top ten most popular A Level subjects after maths are Psychology (80,493), Biology (74,650), Chemistry (61,284), History (48,378), Sociology (47,436), Business Studies (44,852), Art and Design (43,464), Economics (39,141 and moving into the top 10 this year) and Physics (38,379).  Outside the top 10, entries for Computing (18,306) and Political Studies (22,163) saw big increases in 2023 reflecting current societal influences.

Gender patterns
Across the UK, female entries accounted for 54.4% of all A Level entries in summer 2023 and overall outcomes at grades A*-E were slightly higher for female entries than for male (97.7% v 96.8%). Outcomes for female entries at the higher grades (A*-A) were 27.5% compared with 26.9% for male entries, although outcomes for male entries were higher at A* (9.1% v 8.8%), and variation can be seen across different subjects.

Vocational and Technical Qualifications
Over 378,000 results were issued to students in England on results day across over 575 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs). Ofqual’s analytics tool provides results across 256 of these qualifications – those which are used in performance tables.  The three most-popular VTQ subject areas are: Business, Administration and Law; Health, Public Services and Care; and Social Sciences.

Around 3,400 T Level students also received results – only the second ever cohort to complete this technical qualification. 90.5% of T Level students achieved a pass or above.

Progression to Higher Education
On results day this year, UCAS figures show that 79% of UK 18-year-olds secured a place at their first-choice university (81% in 2022 and 74% in 2019). A further 12% were placed at their insurance choice (14% in 2019 and 11% in 2022) and the remaining 9% of UK 18-year-olds (7% in 2022 and 12% in 2019) did not receive an offer. Nearly 29,000 courses were available in Clearing at the start of results day (26,000 at the same point in 2022).

This year, 1,830 T Level students applied to higher education.  On results day 97% had received at least one offer and 1,220 were accepted.


A full breakdown of grades achieved by subject and gender is available on the JCQ website.

Ofqual will publish an equalities analysis, setting out the differences in results between students with different protected characteristics, in the autumn.

Our summary of this year’s results trends for GCSEs is also available.