Art out, business in and boys closing the gap: what’s changed in this year’s A-levels

Delighted students at Plantsbrook school in Sutton Coldfield, Birmimgham, compare A-level results. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

Those sitting A-levels in England this year were probably prepared for the fact that grades would fall closer to pre-pandemic levels.

What few saw coming was a sharp increase in E grades (the lowest pass grade) and in incomplete entries, which together made up more than one in 10 entries in England for the first time since at least 2010.