- Top grades increase: The proportion of GCSE entries receiving the top grades has risen for the second year in a row and remains higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 22 per cent of entries were awarded grade 7/A or above.
- Gender gap narrows: Some 70.2 per cent of all female entries were awarded 4/C or higher, compared with 64.4 per cent for boys, a lead of 5.8 points. This is the narrowest lead for girls at 4/C since at least 2000.
- Regional divide grows: London saw the highest proportion of entries awarded grades of 7 or higher at 28.6 per cent, while north-east England had the lowest at 17.7 per cent, The gap between these two regions now stands at 10.9 per cent, the largest since at least 2010.
- Northern Ireland receives best grades: Some 31.7 per cent of entries in Northern Ireland received 7/A or higher, above the equivalent figure for England (21.8 per cent) and Wales (19.6 per cent).
- Maths and science remain popular: The subject with the most entries this year was the science double award, with a total of 1,007,628 entries. Maths remains the subject with the second largest number of entries, with 912,410 this year.
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