Young people should be able to make decisions about what to study at A-level that are not based on stereotypes, an education minister has said amid a gender gap in the uptake of maths.

It comes as the proportion of A-level entries awarded top grades rose for the third year in a row, likely driven by the popularity of maths and students scoring highly in it.

Hundreds of thousands of teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their exam results on Thursday, with many finding out if they would progress to university, an apprenticeship or work.

Maths remained the most popular subject at A-level this year – the 13th year in a row it has topped the table.

More than one in eight of all A-level entries (12.7%) were for the subject, the latest figures showed.

Speaking about England only, the head of exams regulator Ofqual, Sir Ian Bauckham, told the Press Association the rise in top grades is “largely driven” by the “growing popularity of maths and the high achievements that we’re seeing in maths”.

There is a clear gender divide, with more boys choosing the subject than girls.

There were 72,619 boys’ entries for A-level maths this year across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, making up 63% of entries, compared with 42,761 for girls’ (37%).

Overall, boys outperformed girls in terms of top grades again, after doing so for the first time in seven years last year.

Skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith told PA: “One of the reasons why we’re seeing higher grades for boys relates to the number of boys that are taking maths and what we need to do there is to make sure that girls are getting the opportunity to do maths as well.

“Whatever route it is, I want people to be able to make a decision that isn’t dependent on stereotypes.”

Overall, 28.9% of boys’ A-level entries scored an A* or A this summer, compared with 28% of their female classmates’ entries – a gap of 0.9 percentage points.

But because fewer boys took A-levels than girls, the actual numbers of the top grades awarded to male students was around 16,000 fewer than those awarded to female pupils.

The Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys said the overall picture is actually “far less rosy” for boys than it appears at “first glance”.

Mark Brooks, the group’s director of policy, said: “When taken in the round, male A-level students are still behind female students.

“Fewer take them, fewer get the top grades and fewer get the standard university entry grade C. It also means fewer go to university.”

The smaller number of male entries for A-levels could be because more boys than girls are leaving education to pursue technical routes.

Asked if available qualifications appealed to one gender more than the other, Baroness Smith told PA: “At the moment we do see a lot of boys, for example, doing construction qualifications.

“Now we need more people all round to do construction qualifications, so let’s get some more girls in to do that.

“And we see a majority in something like early years and education, who were girls, but there as well, we need more boys in the classroom doing those really important jobs with children.

“So young people need to have explained to them the whole range of opportunities that will now be open to them so they can choose what’s right for them, not perhaps just thinking about stereotypes when it comes to jobs.”

The total number of A-level entries topped 900,000 for the first time, with the population of 18-year-olds increasing this year.

More than a quarter (28.5%) of entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up by 0.2 percentage points on last year, when 28.3% achieved the top grades.

The proportion of entries awarded the top A* grade this year also rose by 0.2 percentage points to 9.6%, compared with 9.4% in 2025, and it is higher than when it stood at 7.7% in 2019.

Economics, law and political studies have seen leaps in popularity this year.

Leaders in the sector suggested a turbulent political landscape and global economy may be contributing to a rise in students opting for A-levels in these subjects.

On regional disparities, a social mobility expert warned Thursday’s figures point to London becoming an “educational outlier” in comparison to other parts of the country.

The gap between the proportion of A-level entries in London getting the top grades and the equivalent figure in both north-east England and the East Midlands reached a new record this year, according to Press Association analysis, standing at 9.6 percentage points – the largest since the present system of grading began in 2010

The proportion of entries achieving either A or A* was higher than in 2019, the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic, when 25.4% of entries were awarded A or A* grades.

It is the highest proportion of entries scoring top grades outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22.

The overall pass rate – the proportion of entries graded A* to E – has remained at 97.5%, which is lower and the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (97.6%).

Students who are receiving their A-level, T-level and Level 3 vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) results were in Year 7 when schools closed because of the pandemic.

Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week.

Figures showed the number of passes at National 5 reached record levels.

Pass rates for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher increased across the board, to 79.2%, 76.7% and 77.6% respectively.

The proportion of pupils who achieved an A also rose for National 5 and Higher to 40.3% and 20.9%, while the rate for Advanced Higher fell to 30.9%.