Girls continue to outperform boys, particularly in English exams

Female students continue to do better than their male counterparts at the age of 16, with 8.7 per cent of girls’ entries given an A* compared with six per cent of boys’ entries.

The gap, of 2.7 percentage points, is exactly the same as it was last year.

In total, 18.9 per cent of boys’ entries achieved either an A or A* this year, compared with 25.6 per cent of girls, with the gap of 6.7 percentage points also the same as it was in 2011.

At grades A* to C, girls are pulling away, with 65.4 per cent of boys’ entries attaining that level, compared with 73.3 per cent of girls’ entries – a gap of 7.9 per cent.

Last year, 66 per cent of boys’ entries achieved A* to C, compared to 73.5 per cent of girls’ entries.

Andrew Hall, chief executive of exam board AQA, said: “Girls are increasing the gap very slightly at grades A to C.”

The difference between girls’ and boys’ achievement is marked in English, with girls doing better than boys by 14.6 percentage points at grades C and above.

In total, 71.3 per cent of girls’ papers achieved that level, compared with 56.7 per cent of boys’ papers. It was a similar story in English literature, with 82.1 per cent of female candidates’ papers being awarded at least a C compared with 69.8 per cent of boys’ papers. In maths, boys performed slightly better than girls however, with 58.8 per cent of exams being given a C or above, compared with 57.9 per cent of girls’ papers.