Student on Ucas website crash

Hundreds of thousands of teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have received the results of their A- and AS-levels.

The overall pass rate is up slightly, but for the first time in 14 years there has been no increase in the total proportion getting A or A* grades.

The Ucas Track website, where teenagers find out whether they have got their university places, was taken down for several hours, after the system could not cope with the number of people logging on.

Alice Brien, a student from Cambridge, said it was difficult to find out if she had secured her place at the university she had chosen when she did not get the grades she had hoped for.