Research and analysis

Qualification results in England: summer 2025 (accessible)

Published 14 August 2025

Applies to England

About Ofqual

Ofqual’s role is to provide independent oversight, ensure consistency, and protect the standard of qualifications that let students progress through academic, technical and vocational routes.

One of Ofqual’s roles as the regulator is to make sure awarding organisations maintain qualification standards. This means the standard of work needed to get a particular grade this year is comparable to previous years. Ofqual’s understanding grading toolkit has more information.

Scope

Each summer, results for many academic, vocational and technical qualifications are issued on results days. This year, results for many level 3 qualifications were issued on 14 August 2025 and results for many level 1/2 and level 2 qualifications will be issued on 21 August 2025. This release shows figures relating to results issued on or around these dates.

Unless stated otherwise, figures relate to the number of results issued, not the number of students receiving results. Many students received multiple results.

This release only includes results issued to students in schools and colleges in England. For other areas of the UK or results issued at other points in the year, see the ‘related statistics’ section.

Between 14 August 2025 and 20 August 2025, this release contains only figures relating to level 3 results. On 21 August 2025 it will be updated to also include level 1/2 and level 2 results.

The qualifications in scope of this release are:

• at level 3: AS and A levels, tech levels, applied generals, and the Technical Qualification (TQ) components within T Levels
• at level 1/2 and level 2: GCSEs, technical awards, and technical certificates

For GCSEs, AS and A levels, and TQ within T Levels, the reported results include passing grades and Fails (U). For tech levels, applied generals, technical awards and technical certificates, only passing grades are included.

For GCSEs, AS and A levels, and TQ within T Levels, this release includes results that were issued to students on results days.

For tech levels, applied generals, technical awards and technical certificates, results issued between 1 March 2025 and 31 August 2025 are included; most results will have been issued on results days, but some are issued on-demand. Some included results are provisional and will be issued to students after the publication of this release.

This release does not include results for the overall T Level. Ofqual only regulates the TQ, which comprises the core and occupational specialism components of an overall T Level. For overall T Level results, see the T Level results published by the Department for Education.

The vocational and technical qualifications included in this release are tech levels, applied generals, technical awards, and technical certificates which are qualifications that appear on the Department for Education’s performance table lists. Results for other vocational and technical qualifications are also issued each summer and all year round, and are reported in the vocational and other qualifications quarterly release.

Figures in this release can differ slightly from other results statistics such as those published by the Department for Education and the Joint Council of Qualifications (JCQ). These differences may be due to data processing, rounding and when data was collected from awarding organisations.

Key headlines

This summer, 1.1 million results were issued in England for level 3 general and vocational and technical performance table qualifications (AS, A levels, applied generals, tech levels).

For vocational and technical performance table qualifications this only includes results at pass or above.

On 14 August 2025, 864,810 results were issued for AS and A levels.

For vocational and technical performance table qualifications, between 1 March and 31 August 2025 a total of 239,705 results at pass or above were issued, including:

• 210,640 results for applied generals (level 3)
• 29,065 results for tech levels (level 3)

This summer, 313,190 students received results for A levels.

This summer, 11,920 students received results for the TQ within T Levels. Ofqual does not regulate or collect data on the industry placement, which is also part of the overall T Level. This is why the number of students receiving results for the TQ within T Levels can differ from overall T Level results.

On 21 August 2025, this release will be updated to include results issued for level 1/2 and level 2 qualifications.

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Number of results issued by type of qualification

Between 1 March 2025 and 31 August 2025, 239,705 results for level 3 tech levels and applied generals were issued. On 14 August 2025, 864,810 results for AS and A levels were issued.

This summer, 313,190 students received results for A levels.

This summer, 11,920 students received results for the TQ within T Levels. Ofqual does not regulate or collect data on the industry placement, which is also part of the overall T Level. This is why the number of students receiving results for the TQ within T Levels can differ from overall T Level results.

Student counts for vocational and technical performance table qualifications are not possible because student identifiers are not consistent.

See the accompanying data tables for previous years.

Level 3 qualifications

Table 1. Total number of results issued for level 3 qualifications by type of qualification

Qualification level	Type of qualification	Number of awarding organisations issuing results	Number of qualifications with results issued	Number of results issued
Level 3	A level	4	137	814,335
Level 3	AS	4	96	50,475
Level 3	Applied generals	7	119	210,640
Level 3	Tech levels	10	113	29,065
Level 3	Total	14	465	1,104,520

TQ within T Levels

Table 2 shows the number of results issued for the core and occupational specialism components of the TQ within T Levels. This table includes all results issued this year. Because students can take the core and occupational specialism components in different years, this table includes the number of results for all students, irrespective of whether or not they are completing their T Level this year.

Table 2. Total number of results issued for TQ components within T Levels

Qualification level	Component	Number of awarding organisations issuing results	Number of qualifications with results issued	Number of results issued
Level 3	Core	3	21	21,140
Level 3	Occupational specialism	3	18	11,985

Level 1/2 and level 2 qualifications

Table 3. Total number of results issued for level 1/2 and level 2 qualifications by type of qualification

On 21 August 2025, table 3 will be updated to show results issued for level 1/2 and level 2 qualifications.

Number of results issued by subject area

GCSEs and A levels

For GCSEs and A levels, Ofqual groups qualifications according to subject groupings established by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). Most groupings contain a single subject but some groupings contain multiple subjects. For example, “classical subjects” includes Biblical Hebrew, ancient history, classical civilisation, classical Greek and Latin.

Table 4 and table 5 show the 5 subject areas with the most results issued. The percentage of results issued by sex (male and female) is presented for each subject area. See the accompanying data tables for full breakdowns, including figures for previous years.

There can be a small percentage of results where the student’s sex is unknown or missing. Because of that, the percentage of results by sex (male and female) does not always add up to 100%.

See the JCQ examination results publications for further breakdowns. Figures in this release can differ slightly from those published by JCQ, as explained in the contextual information section.

Table 4. Number of results issued for the 5 subject areas with the most results issued, A levels

Subject area	Number of results issued	Percentage of results issued to male students	Percentage of results issued to female students
Mathematics	104,630	62.8%	37.2%
Psychology	72,930	26.3%	73.7%
Biology	65,355	35.7%	64.3%
Chemistry	59,075	44.0%	56.0%
Sociology	41,715	24.2%	75.8%

All other A level subjects combined had a total of 470,625 results issued.

Table 5. Number of results issued for the 5 subject areas with the most results issued, GCSEs

On 21 August 2025, table 5 will be updated to show results issued for level 1/2 and level 2 qualifications.

Vocational and technical performance table qualifications

For vocational and technical performance table qualifications, Ofqual groups qualifications according to 15 different sector subject areas (SSA).

Tables 6a, 6b, 7a, and 7b show, for each type of qualification, the sector subject areas which had the most results issued. The percentage of results issued by sex (male and female) is presented for each sector subject area. See the accompanying data tables for full breakdowns, including figures for previous years.

There can be a small percentage of results where the student’s sex is unknown or missing. Because of that, the percentage of results by sex (male and female) does not always add up to 100%.

Table 6a. Number of results issued by sector subject area (SSA), applied generals

Qualification level	Type of qualification	SSA	Number of results	Percentage of results issued to male students	Percentage of results issued to female students
Level 3	Applied generals	15 Business, Administration and Law	54,135	57.2%	42.3%
Level 3	Applied generals	11 Social Sciences	40,085	27.6%	72.4%
Level 3	Applied generals	02 Science and Mathematics	29,955	36.5%	63.5%
Level 3	Applied generals	01 Health, Public Services and Care	27,450	8.1%	91.9%
Level 3	Applied generals	08 Leisure, Travel and Tourism	26,715	64.6%	35.4%
Level 3	Applied generals	All other SSAs combined	32,305	68.2%	31.8%

Table 6b. Number of results issued by sector subject area (SSA), tech levels

Qualification level	Type of qualification	SSA	Number of results	Percentage of results issued to male students	Percentage of results issued to female students
Level 3	Tech levels	03 Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care	9,070	24.9%	75.1%
Level 3	Tech levels	01 Health, Public Services and Care	3,940	6.6%	93.4%
Level 3	Tech levels	04 Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies	3,920	89.3%	10.7%
Level 3	Tech levels	09 Arts, Media and Publishing	3,490	60.3%	39.6%
Level 3	Tech levels	06 Digital Technology	3,405	82.9%	17.1%
Level 3	Tech levels	All other SSAs combined	5,240	79.7%	20.2%

Table 7a. Number of results issued by sector subject area (SSA), technical awards

Table 7b. Number of results issued by sector subject area (SSA), technical certificates

On 21 August 2025, table 7a and 7b will be updated to show results issued for level 1/2 and level 2 qualifications.

Focus: A levels

See the accompanying data tables for numbers of students alongside the percentages and for previous years.

For further breakdowns of results issued by subject and sex, see the JCQ examination results publications. Figures in this release can differ slightly from those published by JCQ, as explained in the contextual information section.

Number of A levels taken by student age

In the summer 2025 exam series, students took 2.60 A levels on average. Students aged 18 years (the most common age to take A levels) took 2.66 A levels on average. This summer, 313,190 students received results for A levels.

Table 8 shows the percentage of students of all ages and of 18-year-old students by number of A levels taken.

Table 8. Percentage of student age group by number of A levels taken

Number of A levels taken	Number of students of all ages	Percentage of students of all ages	Number of 18-year-old students	Percentage of 18-year-old students
1	42,190	13.5%	30,320	10.8%
2	56,815	18.1%	49,795	17.7%
3	198,445	63.4%	186,945	66.3%
4	15,505	5.0%	14,545	5.2%
5 or more	230	Less than 0.1%	195	Less than 0.1%

Students achieving all grade A* by number of A levels taken

Table 9 shows the percentage of 18-year-old students achieving A* grades in all their A levels taken.

Table 9. Percentage of 18-year-old students achieving all grade A* by number of A levels taken

Number of A levels taken	Number of 18-year-old students achieving all grade A*	Percentage of 18-year-old students achieving all grade A*
1	685	2.3%
2	370	0.7%
3	3,890	2.1%
4	1,865	12.8%
5 or more	35	17.1%

Number of students achieving all A* grades by sex

Of the 18-year-old students who took exactly 3 A levels, 2.1% achieved all A* grades. Of those, 47.6% were male and 52.4% were female.

Of the 18-year-old students who took exactly 4 A levels, 12.8% achieved all A* grades. Of those, 66.2% were male and 33.8% were female.

Of the 18-year-old students who took 5 or more A levels, 17.1% achieved all A* grades. Of those, 66.7% were male and 33.3% were female.

A level outcomes by region

Table 10 shows the percentage of A level results at grade A and above and grade C and above, for all subjects combined, compared across regions of England.

These figures can differ slightly from the interactive visualisation A level: grade outcomes by county, due to some small differences in how counties are assigned to regions.

Table 10. Percentage of A level results at grade A and above and grade C and above by region, all subjects combined

Region	Number of results	Percentage of results at grade A and above	Percentage of results at grade C and above
East	96,885	28.0%	77.8%
East Midlands	59,865	23.8%	73.6%
London	163,735	32.1%	79.5%
North East	25,985	22.9%	74.9%
North West	91,065	26.6%	78.2%
South East	161,795	31.2%	79.5%
South West	74,290	27.0%	77.3%
West Midlands	78,325	24.2%	74.2%
Yorkshire and Humber	62,390	25.3%	76.8%
England	814,335	28.2%	77.7%

A level outcomes by centre type

Awarding organisations report where a student sat their exam with a centre identifier that comes from the National Centre Number (NCN) register. This release reports on the centre types as defined in the NCN register, with one exception. Some selective schools listed in other categories on the NCN register were moved to the ‘secondary selective school’ category to improve the accuracy of this centre type. The category ‘all state-funded’ includes all centre types except those that are categorised as ‘independent’ or ‘other’.

Table 11 shows the percentage of results at grade A and above and grade C and above by these centre types.

Table 11. Percentage of A level results at grade A and above and grade C and above by centre type, all subjects combined

Centre type	Percentage of results at grade A and above	Percentage of results at grade C and above
Academies	23.1%	75.0%
Free schools	31.3%	80.6%
Further education establishment	14.4%	66.3%
Secondary comprehensive or middle school	22.6%	75.2%
Secondary modern school/high school	16.3%	64.8%
Secondary selective school	43.7%	88.2%
Sixth form college	24.0%	76.2%
All state-funded	25.2%	76.3%
Independent school including city training colleges (CTCs)	48.4%	89.7%
Other	16.4%	55.8%

Focus: TQ components within T Levels

The Technical Qualification (TQ) comprises the core and occupational specialism components of an overall T Level. For overall T Level outcomes, please see the T Level results published by the Department for Education.

In table 12 and table 13, results are only included for students who are completing their second year of study and have received a grade for both the occupational specialism and core component. Core results for students expected to complete this year might have been issued in previous years.

Table 12. Occupational specialism: Percentage of results at each grade and above for students completing their second year of study who have received a grade for both the occupational specialism and core component

Occupational specialism grade	Percentage of results
Distinction	17.7%
Merit and above	70.9%
Pass and above	94.9%

Table 13. Core: Percentage of results at each grade and above for students completing their second year of study who have received a grade for both the occupational specialism and core component

Core grade	Percentage of results
A*	0.2%
A and above	3.8%
B and above	19.0%
C and above	48.8%
D and above	81.8%
E and above	97.7%

Focus: Applied generals and tech levels

Applied generals and tech levels are level 3 qualifications that appear on the Department for Education’s (DfE) 16 to 18 qualifications performance table lists.

Different qualifications use different grading structures. Results in table 14 and 15 are presented separately for qualifications with different grading structures. Top grade means the highest grade possible within the grading structure. For example, in a PPP (triple pass) to D*D*D* (triple distinction star) structure, D*D*D* would be the top grade.

Different grading structures and different numbers of available grades mean that the top grade can represent different ranges of achievement. This should be taken into account when interpreting the total percentage of results at top grade(s) in table 14 and 15. For example, a D* in a P, M, D, D* structure may reflect a wider range of achievement than a D*D*D* does in the more granular PPP to D*D*D* structure, but these will both be reported as a ‘top grade’. Results issued between 1 March and 31 August 2025 are included.

Table 14. Applied generals: number of results issued and number of top grades by grading structure

Grading structure	Number of results	Number of top grades issued	Percentage of results at the top grade(s)
E, D, C, B, A, A*	29,285	920	3.1%
E, D, C, B, A	16,320	2,390	14.7%
P, M, D, D*	115,850	13,775	11.9%
Pass, High Pass, Merit, High Merit, Distinction	1,955	280	14.3%
PP, MP, MM, DM, DD, D*D, D*D*	15,630	1,425	9.1%
PPP, MPP, MMP, MMM, DMM, DDM, DDD, D*DD, D*D*D, D*D*D*	31,605	1,535	4.9%
Total	210,640	20,325	9.6%

Table 15. Tech levels: number of results issued and number of top grades by grading structure

Grading structure	Number of results	Number of top grades issued	Percentage of results at the top grade(s)
D, C, B, A, A*	3,745	265	7.1%
P, M, D	110	25	23.1%
P, M, D, D*	11,340	1,235	10.9%
Pass, High Pass, Merit, High Merit, Distinction	220	25	11.0%
PP, MP, MM, DM, DD, D*D, D*D*	4,930	830	16.8%
PPP, MPP, MMP, MMM, DMM, DDM, DDD, D*DD, D*D*D, D*D*D*	8,720	485	5.6%
Total	29,065	2,865	9.9%

Focus: GCSEs

On 21 August 2025, this section will be updated to report results for GCSEs.

Focus: Technical awards and technical certificates

On 21 August 2025, this section will be updated to report results for technical awards and technical certificates.

Contextual information

For GCSEs, AS and A levels, and TQ within T Levels, all valid results issued on results days which include passing grades and Fails (U) are reported. For vocational and technical performance table qualifications only passing grades issued between 1st March and 31st August are included because Fails are not consistently recorded by awarding organisations.

Outcomes representing the absence of a result (Q, X) are also issued on results days. The absence of a result can be due to ongoing malpractice investigations, students being absent from the assessment, or results being pending due to marks for one or more components not being available at the time of awarding (for example, due to a delay in moderation). These outcomes are not included in this release.

Results are different from certificates. The results issued on results days are provisional and may be changed, for example following a review or appeal initiated by the student or their school or college. Certificates reflect the final record of achievement and are usually issued some time after results are issued. Because results are provisional when this release is published, the final figures reported in future publications could be different.

Where figures compare student age groups, the age refers to students’ age at the end of the academic year on 31 August.

In this release, some figures compare male and female students. Ofqual does not collect this information directly but instead receives it from awarding organisations, who in turn receive it from schools and colleges. While we understand the majority of this data to relate to students’ legal sex, in some cases it might reflect students’ gender identity instead.

Figures in this release may differ slightly from those published by the Department for Education and JCQ. There may be differences in data processing, rounding and when data was collected from awarding organisations. Data published by JCQ on vocational and technical performance table qualifications only includes data from JCQ members. The vocational and technical performance table qualification data in this release includes data from all awarding organisations offering these qualifications.

Data source

All data in this release is supplied directly to Ofqual by awarding organisations prior to results days. When Ofqual receives the data, some results may not have been fully processed. For comparability, data for previous years reported in the accompanying data tables also represents this snapshot of provisional data prior to results days.

Confidentiality and rounding

To ensure confidentiality, the data in this release and the accompanying data tables has been rounded in line with Ofqual’s rounding policy.

Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. If the value is below 5, it is represented as ‘fewer than 5’ and 0 represents zero values. Where individual rounded values have been presented in a table along with their sum total, the total may be slightly different to the sum of these individual rounded values because it has been calculated using the original unrounded values.

Percentages have been derived from unrounded values. Percentages have been rounded to one decimal place.

Related statistics

The Joint Council for Qualifications publishes information on examination results for its member organisations on results days.

The Department for Education publishes a range of statistical releases throughout the year, including T Level results on level 3 results day, on its Explore Education Statistics platform.

More detailed data breakdowns relating to results issued on results days is published on Ofqual Analytics:

• outcomes by subject and sex for GCSEs and A levels, applied generals, tech levels, technical awards, and technical certificates
• outcomes by route and pathway for TQ within T Levels
• outcomes by county for GCSEs and A levels
• outcomes for subject combinations for GCSEs and A levels
• centre variability in outcomes for GCSEs and A levels
• outcomes by centre type for GCSEs and A levels

Ofqual Analytics also has interactive visualisations covering qualifications not in scope of this release.

See Statistics at Ofqual for links to other statistical releases. For certificates issued across the year for GCSEs, AS and A Levels, and most vocational and technical qualifications, see our annual qualifications market report and vocational and other qualifications quarterly releases.

For statistics related to other UK regions, see publications by:

• Qualifications Wales
• CCEA regulation (for Northern Ireland)
• Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)

Equalities analysis

Each year since 2020, Ofqual has published equalities analyses for qualification results issued in the summer series. We will do so again later this year.

One notable change this year is that we will be unable to include an analysis for level 1, level 1/2, and level 2 qualifications (including GCSEs). This is because for these students, crucial information on their prior attainment at Key Stage 2 will be missing, as Key Stage 2 assessments did not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The equalities analysis explores how the results for different groups of students have changed over time, when controlling for other variables, through a common statistical technique called multivariate regression modelling. By including prior attainment (and other variables) in the analysis we are able measure the impact of each student characteristic on qualification outcomes once all others have been held constant. Prior attainment is key to this analysis as it is the strongest predictor of achievements in these qualifications, and its inclusion allows for more accurate modelling of the effect size of other variables. Without the prior attainment data in our analysis, differences are likely to be wrongly attributed to other variables leading to a misleading picture.

As we do have prior attainment available for level 3 qualifications (including A levels), we will still be able to publish the analysis for those qualifications. We will publish this towards the end of the year as this complex analysis takes time to complete.

Useful links

• Data tables accompanying this release
• GCSE and A level grading: what you need to know
• Ofqual guide for schools and colleges 2025

Head of profession: Ben Cuff