A-level results 2016: Which subjects did students do the best and worst in?

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Just over a quarter of A level students gained an A* or A this year, as students from across the UK receive their results today.

The pass rate for the top grades follows a trend seen across this decade, with another drop on last year's results to 25.8 per cent of students getting A or A* across all subjects.

Students have performed well in mathematics and foreign languages, while courses such as ICT and media studies have struggled to get their students achieving the top grades in 2016.

The worst performing A levels

The lowest pass rates in 2016 were seen in ICT and media, film and TV studies.

This has followed recent years, where these subjects have struggled to get their students to achieve the top A or A* grades.

One in 10 ICT students gained an A or A* in 2016 - down from 12 per cent in 2011. Some 8,700 students took the course this year, falling by 3,300 in five years,

In terms of the largest falls in A* - A pass rate since 2011, communication studies and classical subjects have suffered the most.

Economics, political studies and history have also struggled to keep their students achieving the top A* and A grades since 2011.

The best performing A levels

On the other hand, A level students have excelled in subjects such as mathematics and Irish.

Continuing the success of recent years, more than half of those taking Further Maths achieved an A or A*, while 88 per cent achieved a C or above.

2016 saw exactly the same top five best performing A levels as in 2015, with foreign languages such as German and French each seeing more than a third of their students achieving an A or A* this year.

Despite this, both of these languages have seen a decline in interest from students, with just 13,500 students taking both subjects this year, down from 18,400 in 2011.

Performing arts, physical education and general studies are among some of the A levels with the largest increases in the percentage of students getting A* or A between 2011 and 2016.

Irish - one of the top five performing A levels for the top grade pass rate - has also improved in recent years.

The gender gap

There is still a significant gender gap when it comes to what boys and girls are taking for their A levels.

In a trend that continues into university study, subjects such as computing and physics are dominated by boys while girls flock to courses on performing arts and sociology.

In terms of grades, there was a slight narrowing of the gap between the genders across all subjects - with 8.5 per cent of boys achieving the top A* grades compared to 7.7 per cent for girls, representing a narrowing of the gap between the genders by 0.1 percentage point for the first time in the last five years.

What subjects are students taking?

The most popular subjects in 2016 are maths, English, biology, psychology and history.

Some 92,200 students decided to take maths this year, while 84,700 took English and 62,700 opted for biology.

But during this decade, there has been a consistent increase in the number of students opting for computing and further maths.

The number of students taking computing this year has increased by 56 per cent since 2011, while further maths now has a quarter more students.

This comes at the price of subjects such as general studies and critical thinking, which are not recognised by many top universities and currently see almost half the number of entries they had in 2011.