GCSEs: Exam chief says 'results reflect changes in student mix'
There has been a sharp fall in English GCSE grades, but on average across all GCSE subjects this year's results show a slight rise in A* to C grades.
Hundreds of thousands of pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been receiving their GCSE results.
Exam officials revealed that 68.8% of entries scored A*-C, up 0.7 percentage points on last summer.
Glenys Stacey, Chief Regulator at Ofqual, attributed the results to "changes in student mix".