The proportion of entries gaining top grades also fell by 0.5 percentage points – with 6.8% achieving a coveted A*.
Northern Ireland and the south-east of England were the standout areas, with 29% of entries gaining top grades, while London entrants gained 27.4%.
Measured by academic attainment, yes: grammar schools on the most part have an excellent record in gaining top grades for their pupils.
Placing a cap on those who can gain top grades means that many students will miss out on the recognition and opportunities they deserve and harks back to a time when only a few were expected to go on to higher education.
She still needs to gain top grades in her final exams, but that's not much of a stretch for Eliza: she is clever and determined, though not quite as determined as her father, who has spurred her on for years, even paying for private tuition, so that she can do what her parents never managed to accomplish — fly the nest and land in a better place.
There is also good evidence that not all subjects are equally difficult, some such as Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Latin being harder subjects in which to gain top grades than Art, Drama, and Sociology [ 35].
Schools are using community languages such as Urdu and Polish to give themselves "an easy hit" to gain top grade GCSE passes and boost their rankings in league tables, a leading academic has said.
He had gained top A-level grades – two A*s, two As and a B – and could have gone to almost any university he wished.
A culture of low expectations means England's able pupils are failing to gain top GCSE grades, Ofsted says.
These showed more pupils gaining the top grades, of A* and A, up from 16.7% in 2003 to 17.4% in 2004.
