Two years' work leads up to the moment the results are opened

More than one in four UK A-level entries were awarded the top A-grade this year, results show.

Figures from the exam boards showed 25.3% of entries were graded A, up from 24.1% last year.

The national pass rate rose for the 25th year in a row, with 96.9% of exams being marked A to E, up from 96.6% last year.

Girls continue to out-perform boys in every major subject except for modern foreign languages and further maths.

Around 500,000 students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are getting their A-level and AS-level results.

The total number of exam entries was 805,657.

The top two subjects in terms of popularity were English and maths, with maths continuing its upward trend. Entries in maths were up 7.3% while those in further maths rose 8.3%.

There was also a small rise in the numbers of people taking chemistry and physics but a slight fall in biology.

Entries in modern foreign languages were largely stable. There was an increase in entries for German and Spanish but a decrease in those for French.

'Positive signs'

Jim Sinclair, director of the Joint Council for Qualifications, which published the results, paid tribute to the hard work of students.

"The improvement of the results at A-level reflects how well students have done this year," he said.

"Candidates who have worked hard are getting the results they deserve.

"There are many positive signs and improvements and some of the highlights are the continued upward entry trend in mathematics, the physical sciences also seeing an improvement and modern foreign languages remaining stable."

The steady improvement in results inevitably revives the debate about the standard of A-levels and whether they test the brightest pupils.

Higher pass rates mean more young people are achieving advanced qualifications that will help them fulfil their ambitions, this is something we should all celebrate Jim Knight, Schools Minister

The Liberal Democrats are calling for an independent review but this has been ruled out by the government.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said one had been carried out three years ago and it was a "real shame" the annual debate about standards undermined pupils' performances.

He said: "I warmly congratulate students and teachers on these excellent results.

"Sustained progress in A-level results over the last decade is down to high quality teaching and strong investment in our schools.

"Higher pass rates mean more young people are achieving advanced qualifications that will help them fulfil their ambitions, and this is something we should all celebrate."

He also said it was encouraging that the numbers of students taking maths, modern languages and science subjects were on the rise. The subjects were crucial to the UK economy.

Professor Alan Smithers, from the University of Buckingham, said: "I think the A-grades hitting 25% is a matter of concern because it does not distinguish sufficiently well at the top end."

Two years' work leads up to the moment the results are opened

The results of hundreds of thousands of A-level exams taken earlier this year are due to be published.

Last year 24.1% were awarded the top A grade - up 1.3 percentage points and an improvement for the 24th year in a row.

Ministers defend standards but are making changes so the exams will be challenging in future, with the very best papers getting a new A* grade.

Some universities have said that exam grades are no longer sufficient for them to use to select undergraduates.

Exam officials are stressing the hard work and determination that students have put in to earn their results this year.

The chair of the Institute of Educational Assessors, Kathleen Tattersall, said A-levels made greater demands on students today.

"Syllabuses now demand skills and knowledge which were once the exclusive preserve of the university sector, examined through sophisticated and well researched assessment techniques which give more information about the overall abilities of our young people - in this modern day - than was ever the case through the hit-or miss one-type-fits-all essay approach of years gone by."

She added: "And as to that Golden Age of yesteryear when standards were unquestionably high - as rumour would have it - then that period is purely a figment of fading memories".

'Illiterate'

Pre-empting criticism that standards are not what they used to be, the institute published examiners' comments from the 1950s complaining about the standard of candidates' writing.

The Times Educational Supplement of 5 February 1954 reported: "It must be held disquieting that all eight examiners, independently, reported that a very high proportion presented the fruits of their study of acknowledged English classics in a written form that was, to some serious degree, illiterate.

"The word is not used lightly. The widespread ignorance or indifference about the most elementary points of reputable English usage was distressing in itself; in the context of the candidates' reading and their pretensions to discuss it, this evidence was frightful and frightening."

My hours of study are effectively written off as my qualifications are seemingly worthless Laura Palmer, A-level student

Students themselves have also been making their feelings known.

Laura Palmer, from Warwick, wrote to the BBC News website to say the boom in A grades was down to students taking "much easier subjects like media studies or flower arranging" not maths, economics or history.

"There is also the fact that the soft options that are available now, were not available 40 years ago - I wonder whether the pass rate differences between now and then would be so great if there had been the opportunity for some people to study the softer options?

"As a student who has studied for three tough academic subjects I find it very disheartening when my hours of study are effectively written off as my qualifications are seemingly worthless."

The A-level results relate primarily to exams taken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, though a small number of people in Scotland also sit them rather than Highers.