The overall A-level pass rate and proportion of top marks awarded has dropped this year compared to the year before - but is still higher than the last time students took exams.
Hundreds of thousands of pupils are finding out their marks on A-level results day after exams returned for the first time since the Covid pandemic hit.
The overall pass rate has fallen to 98.4 per cent from 99.5 per cent in 2021, when grades were awarded by teachers.
The proportion of entries awarded A* and A grades is also lower: 36.4 per cent compared to 44.8 per cent last year.
Meanwhile, Ucas said the second-highest number of A-level students on record have been accepted into their first or second choice university courses, down from the all-time high last year.
Grades were expected to be lower than in 2021 - when a record number received top marks - due to a crackdown on grade inflation, but still higher than before the Covid pandemic.
