Thousands of teenagers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland have received their GCSE results, with the overall pass rate remaining stable at 67.3% of entries awarded grade 4/C or above, down slightly from 67.4% last year.
The gap between girls' and boys' results has narrowed to its smallest this century. A total of 70.2% of girls' entries received at least a grade 4/C compared with 64.4% of boys' entries – a 5.8 percentage point gap, down from 6.2 last year.
Top Grades and Regional Divide
The proportion of top grades, marked at 7/A or above, rose very slightly from 21.9% last year to 22% this year. The gap between London and northern England has widened, with 28.6% of entries in the capital receiving grade 7 or above, up from 28.4% in 2025, the highest for any region in England. North-east England had the lowest figure at 17.7%, down from 17.8% last year, meaning the gap between the two regions now stands at 10.9 percentage points, up from 10.6 in 2025 and the largest since available data began in 2010.
In Wales, 19.6% of entries were awarded top grades, up from 19.5% last year, while Northern Ireland recorded 31.7%, up from 31.6%.
Grade Boundaries and New Qualification
Exam boards AQA and Pearson Edexcel have published their grade boundaries. For Edexcel, key boundaries include Maths (Higher): Grade 9 – 208/240, Grade 4 – 50/240; English Language: Grade 9 – 132/160, Grade 4 – 87/160; Biology (Higher): Grade 9 – 170/200, Grade 4 – 84/200.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell announced plans to introduce a new “stepping stone” qualification for students who fail maths and English GCSEs. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said it was “not about lowering standards” but rather that failing to achieve a grade 4 should not be a “barrier” to career paths. She added: “I want absolute high standards and excellence for all our children, and I profoundly reject the suggestion that a technical or vocational qualification is somehow for not-so-clever kids or is a lower standard or a lower expectation.”
Resits and Online Results
Maths and English GCSE resit exams are held in November for both AQA and Pearson Edexcel, with standard annual exams in May or June each year. Students aged 16 to 19 without a grade 4 or above in either subject will continue studying at GCSE level.
For the first time, many students could access their results online via the Education Record app, which updated at 11am. The Department of Education announced the £30m app in January after a trial involving 95,000 students in Manchester and the West Midlands last summer.
