South Yorkshire students prepare to receive A-Level results - with one in four tipped for top grades

Last year, 26.4 per cent of UK entries were awarded an A or A* grade - the highest proportion for six years.

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Boys are expected to continue to outperform girls at the highest grades again this year, like last year.

Ahead of A-level results day, grade boundaries for two of England's biggest exam boards, Edexcel and OCR, were leaked.

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The documents showed that students needed to score just over half marks in A-level maths to be rewarded with an A grade this summer.

Grade boundaries for Edexcel's maths A-level show students who gained 165 out of a possible maximum of 300 marks – 55 per cent – will be awarded an A.

Separate documents show that those who took the OCR exam board's A-level maths qualification will walk away with an A if they achieved 54 per cent across all papers - a total of 161 out of 300.

Last year, 184 marks – 61 per cent - were needed for an A grade in Edexcel's maths A-level, while for OCR's qualification in the subject, the required mark was 197 – 66 per cent.

The leaked documents also give grade boundaries for other A-level qualifications offered by Edexcel and OCR - two of the biggest exam boards in England, and there are some differences between the two.

A mark of 208 out of 300 – 69 per cent – in an Edexcel English Literature A-level achieves an A grade, while students taking the subject with OCR require 177 marks out of 200 – 89 per cent.

Yesterday, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "The problem is that anxious students will pore over this information trying to work out what this means for their results.

"This is a pointless exercise because grade boundaries are set to allow for differences in the difficulty of papers so that students are not disadvantaged from one year to the next.

"We would urge students against losing sleep over grade boundaries and to wait for their results tomorrow."

For many students, receiving their A-level results will also bring confirmation of university places.

Latest UCAS figures show that as of the end of June, 638,030 people had applied to start degree courses this autumn, up 0.2 per cent on the same point in 2018.

Among UK 18-year-olds, applications are up one per cent, with 275,520 applying by the June deadline.