Thousands of students discover their A-level results today

Analysis of the entry levels for the traditionally top-scoring subjects, such as maths, indicates the percentage of students achieving an A or A* grades will increase.

And the number of boys achieving the very top grade could pull further ahead of girls due to a rise in take-up of maths - typically a high-scoring subject - according to Prof Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University.

However students and schools are also bracing themselves for greater volatility in this year’s results because of changes to the curriculum, a teachers’ union has said.

The Government introduced changes to the subject content of all AS and A-levels last year.

Mid-course exams were also scrapped, meaning that all exams are now taken at the end of the year.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT union, said that teachers and students had struggled to get to grips with new syllabuses. She said the changes would particularly affect those receiving their AS-level results, as they are the first group to go through the new curriculum.

There was also controversy yesterday as UCAS confirmed there had been some cases of universities informing students of their results before an embargo lifted.

A UCAS spokesman said: “Regrettably there have been a small number of process errors, typically where universities’ automated systems have released communications to prospective students ahead of results day.

“In each case the provider concerned has informed UCAS immediately and swift action has been taken to correct the errors. The majority of these imply applicant status rather than achieved grades. However, in one case we believe a very small number of students may have had access to their results.

“We take these matters very seriously and, as you would expect, we have immediately alerted the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) and the regulators of these errors. These cases are currently under investigation and a full report will be made to the regulators and awarding bodies in due course.”

Last year, boys held a 0.9 per cent lead over girls at A* grade, although girls had a 0.4 per cent lead at A and A* grade combined - having out-performed boys every year since the millennium.

Entries to maths and further maths in England are up again, with the former now overtaking English as the subject with the highest intake.

Since they award by far the most A* grades, this could lead to an increase in A* grades overall.

Prof Smithers said that the gap between boys and girls had been narrowing since 2006, and that boys could “go further ahead this year due to the increase in people taking maths and further maths”.

Last year the number of top A-level grades dipped for the fourth year in a row.

The number of boys and girls awarded A* and A grades fell from 26 per cent to 25.9 per cent.

Yorkshire fared slightly worse than the national average but it did see the country’s biggest increase in pass rates - up by 0.3 per cent to 98 per cent.

More to follow