Tens of thousands of A-level pupils may miss out on first choice university

Last year 44.8% of A-level grades were either A or A* but this is expected to fall to 35% in 2022. Photograph: Mike Booth/Alamy

Tens of thousands of A-level ­students are at risk of losing a place at their preferred university next week after new analysis found a sharp fall in top grades compared with last year.

Amid warnings that this year’s admissions round would be “the hardest in living memory”, research suggests a fall of 10 percentage points in the number of A and A* grades in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, following the reintroduction of exams this summer.