Teens celebrate across Britain as more than one in four A-level entries scores at least an A in first year of revamped ‘tougher’ exams

A-LEVEL students have defied expectations as the number of entrants securing an A grade went UP in the first year of 'tougher' testing.

More than one in four A-level entries scored at least an A grade this year as the number of top grades improved for the first time in six years.

National figures - released as students across the country endure A-level results day - show 26.3 per cent of A-level entries scored an A* or A this summer, up 0.5 percentage points on 2016.

The rise comes amid major changes to the qualifications, which have moved away from coursework and exams spread out throughout the course.

The government introduced the new exams to make them more challenging - but this year's entrants defied predictions to achieve even better results.

But not all students are celebrating this morning, one teenager at Winstanley College in Wigan opened his heartbreaking results live on Good Morning Britain today.

His results meant he will have to go through the clearing process along with thousands of other teenagers while classmates celebrate their results.

The statistics, for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, also show:

• The overall A*-E pass-rate has fallen by 0.2 percentage points to 97.9 per cent
• The proportion of entries awarded the highest result - A* - has risen 0.2 percentage points to 8.3 per cent
• Among the 13 reformed subjects only, results are down slightly compared to the equivalent subjects in 2016.

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The figures, published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) also show boys have pulled further ahead at A* grade.

However girls fared better than boys in achieving A* or A grades.

Actor and comedian Sir Lenny Henry has assured hopeful A-level students that they are "not alone", whatever their results.

The star spoke from the clearing office at Birmingham City University on Thursday morning in the nerve-racking hours before the official release of the national test results.

He said: "This is a fantastic day to make decisions.

"Education is for everybody. It has become more egalitarian ... even people with the weirdest of results, there's a place for them, and that's what clearing is for."

Among the students who die achieve their dream results, was Nisa Hasan from Manchester High School for Girls achieved 3A*s to study Economics at Cambridge.

She said: "My dream job has always been economics adviser to the government so Cambridge was the right choice for me.

"I love analysing and handling data and don’t think my future career path should be determined by the fact I am female."

Phoebe Pickering, from Brighton, is celebrating achieving three A*s despite battling with cancer during her studies.

Lucas Burgess, from Derbyshire, was diagnosed with cancer as a young boy but has now achieved the grades he needed to study medicine after being inspired by doctors during his fight for life.

Phoebe Pickering, from Brighton, gained her results in Latin, English literature and philosophy at Brighton College and will go on to study philosophy at Cambridge.

She said: "I feel slightly in shock, it hasn't really sunk in yet, I'm very excited."

Twin sisters Eleanor and Hannah Burford were 'over the moon' as they picked up their impressive A-level results from college - two years on from collecting 16 A*s and three A's between them at GCSE level.

The twins, both 18, will now part ways after studying together at Portsmouth High School, Hants, as they both head off to top 20 universities.

Eleanor, who achieved an A* in chemistry and two A's in maths and biology, has secured a place at the University of York to study chemistry.

Hannah will study mechanical engineering at the University of Lancaster after earning A*s in maths as well as further maths and an A in physics.

Eleanor said: "We've had to sacrifice a lot to study hard but it's all worth it, we both helped each other out and we're excited to go off to uni now."

One of the country's youngest success stories was 11-year-old maths prodigy Israel Adeboga who has won a place at Eton after achieving a D despite being six years younger than his peers.

Israel, from Barking, east London, said: "I find Maths as a game and learning as fun because of the way it is taught at the Excellence in Education program and things are explained easily and you can never forget with EIE's learning method."

Meanwhile, "small number" of A-level students have had their exam results withheld over a criminal investigation into a possible paper leak.

Some students are believed to have accessed an internet forum containing crucial information about the tests hours before sitting end-of-year maths and economics papers.

Sharon Hague, senior vice president of Pearson, which runs the Edexcel exam board, said she was "confident" those students who accessed the leaked documents had been identified, and their results withheld.

Figures showed a huge spike in the number of entries for a small range of subjects, including computing, with a 33 per cent rise in the number of A-level students sitting the exam in 2017.

There was a 12.8 per cent increase in the number taking political studies, and a 1.7 per cent rise in those taking Spanish at A-level.

When comparing 18-year-old results, the proportion of A* grades for these courses is down 0.5 percentage points to 7.2%, A*-A grades have dropped 0.7 percentage points to 24.3% and A*-E results have fallen 0.5 percentage points to 98.1%.

The 13 reformed subjects are: art and design, biology, business, chemistry, computer science, economics, English language, English language and literature, English literature, history, physics, psychology and sociology.