Almost one in four boys in England received top grades in maths while results in English improved across the board, helping to propel improved GCSE results for this year’s cohort of 16-year-olds.
The stronger performances in maths helped pupils taking GCSEs in year 11 reach a record level for higher grades in England outside the Covid pandemic years, when exams were replaced by teacher assessments.
The overall results for 16-year-olds nudged slightly higher compared with last year, with the proportion receiving grades 7, 8 and 9 – equivalent to grades A and A* – rising by 0.1 of a percentage point to 23.1%. The proportion of nearly 700,000 16-year-olds in England who got a grade 4 or better – equivalent to a C or higher – also rose to 70.7%, compared with 70.5% in 2025.
Some of the strongest performances appeared to come in the compulsory subject of maths, where 22.3% received 7s or better, including 24% of boys and 20.5% of girls. But girls did worse than last year in lower grades, dropping from 71% awarded 4 and above to 70.7%, while boys improved further to 72.8%.
Richard Harry, executive director of qualifications and assessment at the Welsh exam board WJEC, said the maths results for 16-year-old boys in England “may be the highest in recent years”.
Coming after last week’s A-levels also showed stronger results in maths, Harry said it was difficult to know what was driving the improvement: “Since coming out of the pandemic we’ve been maintaining the standard in maths at both GCSE and in A-level and I think we’re confident that the outcomes we’re seeing this year reflect the level of attainment that learners have achieved.”
In English, the other compulsory subject, results bounced back after dipping last year, with 66.1% of boys getting 4s and above while girls improved to 76.8%.
Many of the pupils receiving GCSE results this summer were in year 5 when schools were largely closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, disrupting their final years of primary schooling.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It should be remembered that these young people experienced significant disruption earlier in their education … That so many have done so well in their GCSEs and other level 2 qualifications is an example of triumph over adversity both for them and for their schools.
“However, a significant proportion of students continue to fall short of a grade 4 GCSE pass in English and maths both at the age of 16 and in subsequent resits in post-16 education where most face the miserable experience of falling short once again.
“This limits their education and career options and is very likely to be a factor in the large number of young people who end up not in employment, education or training (Neet).”
The results came as more than a million candidates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their grades on Thursday morning. Scotland published its equivalent results earlier this month.
Twenty-two per cent of UK entries were awarded the top grades of 7 or A and above this year, up by 0.1 percentage points on last year. That was higher than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, when 20.8% of entries achieved the top grades.
Myles McGinley, managing director of the Cambridge OCR examination board, noted that alongside maths many more pupils were taking business studies, with the number of entries rising by a third in five years.
“This looks like an increasingly entrepreneurial generation, fascinated by how business works. The founders of some of the next great unicorn businesses may well be among those achieving GCSEs in business studies today,” McGinley said.
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