Scramble for degree course places as A-level results break records for 26th successive year

Results being posted in schools are expected to show that the number gaining a hat-trick of As exceeds last year's 14 per cent.

The performances will only intensify the scramble for degree course places, after a seven per cent surge in the number of university applicants.

From left to right: Emma Davies, Lucy Sendall and Emily Martin, all 18, from Central High School in Newcastle celebrate their A level results

One in three universities has asked for a breakdown of students' grades in each individual paper in addition to an overall grade, to help them decide whether to give borderline candidates who just missed their offers the benefit of the doubt.

Today's results are expected to show a rise in the A-grade pass rate for the 11th successive year, taking it beyond last year's 25.3 per cent.

The overall A to E grade pass rate is expected to rise for the 26th consecutive year to above 97 per cent.

An analysis for the Institute of Directors this week revealed that 14 per cent of pupils at state and independent secondary schools last year achieved three As.

Private school pupils were three times more likely to achieve the clean sheet  -  31.1 per cent against 9.9 per cent for state schools.

The results being collected by more than 300,000 candidates today are expected to show an improvement on these scores as students pull off the best results in the exam's 57-year history.

Professor Alan Smithers, an education expert at Buckingham University, said the A to E pass rate now appeared to be hitting a ceiling.

'But there is more headroom to get higher scores when it comes to the A grade,' he said.

'You are probably looking at something above 26 per cent this year, with 27 per cent for girls.

'Boys were on 23.9 per cent A grades last year and you could ask whether a quarter of boys are this year going to reach that level, as the girls did in 2006.'

Students starting A-level courses next month will be the first to tackle reformed A-levels which will award an A* to pupils who achieve more than 90 per cent.

Some universities have been reluctant to embrace the new A* and are increasingly relying on their own admissions tests to distinguish the best from the rest.

The Tories have also pointed out that success is patchy across the country, with fewer than one in eight children taking Alevels in some of England's most deprived areas.