GCSE and IGCSE 2026 – results in review
What do the results reveal for globally mobile families and international and UK education at a glance?
Thousands of students received their GCSE and IGCSE results on 20 August. For many students it marks the most significant exams they have ever taken and a huge milestone.
GCSEs remain a ‘gold standard’ in education for now but there continues to be a debate in the UK around how fit it is for purpose. Meanwhile, demand for IGCSEs and O-Levels keeps growing.
International demand for IGCSEs
Cambridge International released its results on 18 August, with Pearson Edexcel and Oxford AQA releasing their IGCSE results on 20 August.
More than 315,000 students worldwide received Cambridge IGCSE and O Level results from nearly 5,000 schools, across 144 countries. Together, making up almost one million entries this June series.
This year, there were almost 757,000 entries for Cambridge IGCSE, an increase of 3% from last year and almost 231,000 entries for Cambridge O Levels, a 2% uplift showing continued demand for globally-recognised qualifications that can help students reach the next stage of their education in the build up to a university or college application.
Students took exams in 117 Cambridge IGCSE and O Level syllabuses, illustrating their diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The Cambridge curriculum allows schools to build programmes in accordance to their students’ needs, tailoring content to their experiences and offering more choice and flexibility in terms of subject pathways.
The most popular IGCSE subjects this year were Mathematics, Physics, First Language English, Chemistry and Biology. While English Language was the most popular Cambridge O Level subject, followed by Mathematics, Pakistan Studies, Islamiyat and Urdu as a Second Language.
The Cambridge Global Perspectives, a unique skills-based subject that aims to teach students about global issues such as climate change, conflict and peace, law and criminality and art in society has also grown, with combined IGCSE and O Level entries up by 9%.
The qualification involves students learning how to collaborate on team projects and actively engage with issues that impact them nationally and globally from hot topics around sustainability, to the impact of AI on learning and society, and aims to develop areas such as critical thinking, communication and research.
The GCSE picture in England
More than 5.7 million GCSE results were issued to students in England, along with more than 374,000 results for level 1 and 2 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs).
According to Ofqual, this year’s GCSE results were broadly stable overall compared to 2025. Results for 5,720,045 GCSEs were issued across more than 40 subject areas. Overall outcomes at grade 7 and above were almost identical to 2025, 21.8% of results compared to 21.7% in 2025, and outcomes at grade 4 and above were just 0.1 percentage point down on 2025, at 67%.
GCSE outcomes across different regions of England, like A Levels, showed persistent gaps. The gap between the highest- and lowest-performing regions in England has widened. London was revealed to have the highest pass rate (71.7%) and the West Midlands had the lowest (62.4%). A 9.3 percentage point gap, up from 8.7 last year. The North East had the fewest grade 7s and above (17.7%) compared to London at 28.6%. The lowest number of students awarded a 4 pass rate or higher was in the West Midlands – 62.4%
GCSE trends by subject – highs and lows
The subjects with notable changes in entry included Statistics with an increase of 11%, Business Studies which was up by 8% and Sociology up by 5.2%. This year, Engineering was down by a significant 9.3%, a decrease was also seen in Computing down by 7.2% and French which was down 5.5%.
Overall outcomes in French, German and Spanish were slightly higher in all three subjects than in 2025. This is the first year of awards based on the new GCSE courses introduced in 2024. Across state schools this year, results at grade 7 and above improved very slightly compared with last year by 0.1 percentage point, with no change at grades 4 and above.
For private schools, results at grades 7 and above, and 4 and above, fell compared with last year by 0.5 and 0.4 percentage points, respectively. Grammar schools recorded the highest proportion of top grades, same as last year.
VTQ trends by subject and industry
On August 20, Level 1 and 2 vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) results for 363,210 technical awards were also issued, up very slightly on last year’s figure. The number of technical awards given at the top grade was up 0.2 percentage points, to 4.3%.
The most commonly taken VTQ subjects were similar to previous years – leisure, travel and tourism; health, public services and care; arts, media and publishing; retail and commercial enterprise; and business, administration and law.
Results for 11,185 technical certificates were also awarded with nearly two-thirds of all technical certificates being in one of these two subject areas: construction, planning and the built environment and agriculture, horticulture and animal care.
Number crunch: GCSEs in numbers (England)
5,720,045 results issued
10.9% number of 16 year-old students taking 10 GCSEs
Source: Ofqual
IGCSEs: Everything you need to know
The IGCSE stands for International General Certificate of Secondary Education and is one of the most useful qualifications for internationally mobile families to know about. The international counterpart to the UK GCSE offers continuity and is designed so that students can move between countries without leaving their education behind.
The main UK awarding organisations are Cambridge International, part of University of Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel and OxfordAQA who set the syllabuses, examinations and assessment standards but hundreds of international schools around the world teach the courses and enter students for exams.
At the moment, Cambridge offers more than 70 IGCSE subjects including 30 languages which are offered at more than 7,000 schools in 147 countries. Pearson too offers a diverse range of subjects for globally minded learners, from global citizenship to commerce and Arabic with a view to progress to international A Levels.
There are around 1,500 universities across the world who formally recognise Pearson Edexcel international qualifications, including the world’s top 20 universities, all UK universities, 260 universities in the US and universities in 56 other countries it claims. IGCSEs offer a clear path to A Levels or IALs and then university. Students can also choose to progress to an IB Diploma or BTEC instead in some countries.
Not happy with IGCSEs?
If your family has just received some IGCSE results news and the results are not what you were hoping for, or there are grading issues, there are helpful support pages that can help families and students find more information and navigate their options. These include: Pearson post services support, Cambridge results services and Oxford AQA post results advice.
You can find more coverage on GCSE, IGCSEs and Level 1 and 2 qualifications as well as international education trends on our website and social channels. Don’t miss our exam results and featured schools this year.
