A-level results day 2017 explained in four charts

On the whole, this year’s most popular A-level subjects stayed the same. Ranked by the total number of candidates entered into exams, Mathematics remained the most popular A-level choice with 11.5 per cent of all students studying the subject.

In second and third are Biology and Psychology, which shows no change when compared to last year’s trends.

In fact, apart from History and Chemistry, all of the top ten subjects in 2017 remained as they were in 2016. History, which was previously the fourth most popular subject to study at A-level, has dropped to fifth place and been replaced by Chemistry.

Some of the most unpopular subjects of the year included Irish and Critical Thinking. Respectively, the two subjects had 455 and 1,241 students out of a total cohort of over 720,000.

Though not as unpopular as subjects like German and Critical Thinking, many key subjects also noticed a severe drop in students this year.

With a whopping 39.2 per cent decline in entrants when compared to 2016, General Studies has been the most unpopular subject for A-level students this year. In 2016 over 11,500 students studied the subject, compared to only 7,147 this year.

Also unpopular in 2016 was Communication Studies, ICT and English Language & literature, which all observed a percentage difference of over -11 per cent between last year and now.

While still popular, humanities subjects such as History, English Literature and English Language [separates] all also noticed a drop in students

Year on year the trend has been that girls academically outperform boys. This year however, male students have achieved more top grades than their female counterparts for the first time in 17 years.

However, girls are still tending to outperform males in creative subjects such as Drama and Art and Design which typically prove less popular with boys. By and large, males have achieved more A* and A grades in STEM field subjects such as mathematics. This is in line with 2016’s A-Level figures.

It has been speculated that boys performed better this year due to ‘tougher’ A-levels which favour exams over coursework and are not modular.

Students in Wales, England, and Northern Ireland have also noticed a difference in their results. As was the case in 2016, students from Northern Ireland achieved the highest percentage of A and A* grades this year. Following Northern Irish students are the English, of whom 34.5 per cent achieved A and A* grades.

This year 33.3 per cent of Welsh students achieved the very top marks. Though this is a 4 per cent improvement on last year’s student cohort, 5.2 per cent more students achieve A and A* grades in Northern Ireland.

Scotland, which uses separate exam boards and awards different qualifications, are not included in the figures.