Girls have pulled further ahead than boys amid the rise in top GCSE grades this year.
The gap between boys and girls achieving one of the top grades has risen from eight percentage points in 2020 to nine percentage points this year.
The proportion of GCSE entries awarded top grades has surged to an all-time high after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row due to Covid-19.
Hundreds of thousands of youngsters have been given results determined by their teachers, with pupils only assessed on what they have been taught during the pandemic.
According to figures from Ofqual, the number of 16-year-old students in England who entered seven or more GCSEs and received a 9 – the highest grade under the numerical grading system – in all subjects has risen.
Some 3,606 students in England received straight 9s this summer, compared with 2,645 in 2020 and 837 in 2019
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