Record year as more pupils than ever are A-grade stars

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For the first time, more than two-thirds of GCSE exams received at least a grade C, while a fifth scored As or A*s.

But as 750,000 pupils received their results, the celebrations were overshadowed by fresh concerns of dumbing down, with leading schools warning the exams have become too easy.

The results from exam boards showed:

* One in 14 pupils — 7.1 per cent — was awarded the A* grade, the highest proportion ever.

* 8.2 per cent of exams taken by girls scored A*, compared with 6 per cent for boys.

* A record two-thirds — 67.1 per cent — achieved at least a grade C.

R* esults in English fell, with 62.7 per cent of pupils achieving the benchmark C grade, down from 62.9 last year.

* The number of exam entries in French and German continued to plummet after the Government made languages optional; it has almost halved since 2002.

Jim Sinclair, director of the exam boards' body the Joint Council for Qualifications, which released the results, said: "This is a day of celebration for students and teachers. There has been good performance overall."

But the record crop of A* grades fuelled fears that GCSEs have become too easy.

Professor Alan Smithers, an expert in exam standards from Buckingham University, said: "In 1988, 8.6 per cent got A grades in all subjects. The A* has really become what the A grade was 20 years ago in terms of telling people apart. I do think it suggests that the exam has become a lot easier."

There were fresh signs that more private schools could be abandoning the 21-year-old exams as fewer pupils were entered for GCSEs this year.

David Levin, head of City of London School, a leading independent boys' school, warned that "dumbed down" GCSEs were driving private and state education further apart.

Writing in the Standard, he said the school was rejecting the exams in favour of a more rigorous, O-level style International GCSEs in most subjects.

"GCSEs are now characterised by a system of coursework, involving assignments which independently-minded pupils often find dull," he writes.