The proportion gaining a C or above had risen slightly, from 70.1%to71.9%9%.
But even among pupils sitting their exams in year 11, the conventional GCSE year, the proportion gaining A*-C grades was down by 1.3 percentage points.
But of those whose GCSE subjects included English, maths, a foreign language and a science, all once core subjects in the curriculum, the proportion gaining good grades has dropped from 30% five years ago to 26% last year.
Exam board officials attributed the improvement in the proportion gaining an A* to it becoming a "key grade for the highest-performing students" looking to get into top universities, with both teachers and pupils making deliberate efforts to reach it, helped by the end to exams being taken in January, allowing more teaching time.
The gap between non-FSM and FSM pupils in "outstanding" schools, measured by the proportion gaining five GCSE A*-Cs including maths and English, is 25 points, with 75% of non-FSM children achieving this benchmark, compared with 50% of FSM students.
Over the past ten years, the proportion gaining the highest marks has doubled from 9.4% to almost 20%.A second reason is gripes from university tutors and employers, who reckon that school leavers are not as accomplished as they used to be.
There was a slightly higher incidence of "adverse remarks" in the cases, but no difference in the proportion gaining intercalated degrees.
Table 1 also shows the proportions gaining A grades in the main subjects taken, and for most subjects there is no significant difference between W and NW candidates.
No gender differences existed in the proportion who gained, lost, or remained the same weight over time (x2 = 0.81, p = 0.66).
MCR of gains outnumbered MCR of loss, although the proportions of gained and lost genome were similar, suggesting a greater dispersion of losses.
Secondary aims compare the 3 conditions on mean weight gain at 2 years, on the proportion who gain <1 pound or >1 pound at 3 years, and on the proportion who become obese at 3 years.
