A-Level Results Day 2026: what to expect

When is A-Level Results Day in 2026?

A-Level Results Day is on Thursday, the 13th of August 2026 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. From 8 am, you can collect your results from school or college. The status of your university application will be updated on the UCAS Hub on Thursday too.

If you're in Scotland, Scottish Results Day was on Tuesday, the 4th of August 2026. If you are registered with MySQA, you would have received an email or text with your results at around 8 am when they were published.

What time are A-Level Results to be released?

Schools and colleges open from 8 am on Thursday for you to collect your results. Each school or college may have a different system for collecting your results, so check before you arrive. Your UCAS Hub with the status of your university application will be updated from 8:15 am.

What are the A-Level grade boundaries and pass rates?

Each year, the different exam boards will review their grade boundaries and adjust them in line with the performance of the students that year. After results are released, you can find the grade boundaries on the exam board websites. This is typically updated from 9am onwards. These include:

• AQA grade boundaries
• Perason grade boundaries
• OCR grade boundaries

How do my 2026 results compare to others?

The number of students receiving top grades has increased for the third year in a row, and is still higher than before the Covid pandemic. 9.6% of 18-year-olds received an A, up from 9.4% in 2025. The overall pass rate was 97.5% (grades A to E), which is unchanged from last year but slightly below 2019's Results Day which was 97.6%.

The number of boys who were awarded A or A* in 2026 was 28.9%, which was 0.9 percentage points higher than girls (28.8%).

The most popular subject was maths, with 115,380 entries followed by psychology. The top three subjects that saw the most growth were engineering and technology, social sciences and law. UCAS has revealed 35,000 students are going to study engineering, which is 14% higher than last year.

UCAS figures also show a record number of students have secured their place at university or college. The total number has risen by 3%, with 262,820 taking up places so far. 228,990 students have been accepted at their first choice, which is 1% higher than 2025. Whereas 31,770 teenagers have secured a spot at their insurance choice, 21% up from last year too.

While the number of students being accepted is a higher number, percentage wise, it has actualy decreased from 82% down to 79%. This is because there is a rise of 18-year-olds in the UK for the 2026 Results Day.

What do I do on A-Level Results Day?

A-Level Results Day is a pretty hectic day for everyone! Take a deep breath and take things one step at a time.

Find out what time your school or college opens so you can go and get your results. You can find this out by checking their website, asking a friend, or by looking through emails and documents your school or college gave you beforehand. Even though you can read your results online, it's still best to go to school as well, in case you need to assess your options after you get your results. You may want to speak to your favourite teacher to get advice, or open your results with your friends in person.

On A-Level Results Day, you should have with you:

• Your phone
• A pen and notepad
• A copy of your personal statement
• Your GCSE results
• Calculator – if your phone doesn’t have one (to work out your UCAS Tariff Points)
• Your UCAS letter – with your UCAS number and conditional offer grades
• Do you have any Clearing open days or virtual tours available?

If you go into school, then you just need to bring a notepad and a pen to write down helpful advice and information from your teachers and careers advisers. If you want to go through Clearing, you can still bring the above with you to school if you want to call universities there instead of somewhere else, like at home.

How to prepare for A-Level Results Day

We know how nervous you’ll feel the night before and the morning of. Here are some ways you can prepare to help calm yourself ahead of the day.

Know the process

Make sure you know how processes like Clearing work. Look into the different services that UCAS offer like Clearing Plus and make sure you know all about your school’s appeal process or what the process is for retaking your exams.

Check Out Courses in Clearing!

Research universities and courses

You might not be entering Clearing, but it’s always best to prepare, just in case. Have a look at other universities and their courses and see if any of those might appeal to you if your grades are different than you expected. You can also download the Clearing app where you’ll receive live updates on Clearing places available.

Questions for your university

Think about what you need to know from your university too! Prepare a few questions that you need to ask them, such as:

• Can I still apply for accommodation?
• Is there a chance to speak to any current students?
• What support services does the university have available?
• Do you have any Clearing open days or virtual tours available?

Make sure you're prepared

Prepare to succeed! Make sure you know everything you need to do on Results Day. The best way to do this is to make a list of everything you need to do.

You should be prepared to:

• Speak to your university
• Sort out and finalise your student finance
• Organise student accommodation

If you've done all those things, then you're free to go and enjoy your summer! Spend time ticking off the things you've bought for your university checklist and enjoy the sun!

Relax!

At this point, things are out of your hands. There’s nothing more you can do, so just relax and take the time to de-stress.

What if I missed out on the grades for university?

Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of options open to you! You can look into retaking your A-Levels and then reapplying next year. This gives you the chance to improve your grade and means you can still attend the university you've got your heart set on.

Another option is Clearing. Clearing is a process that allows students who achieve different grades than predicted (better or worse) to choose a different course.

Equally, if you don't know what you want to do, you can always take a gap year! Gap years can be anything you want them to be, whether that be doing an apprenticeship abroad, getting a job, or travelling! A gap year is a great chance to put life on pause and evaluate your options.