I understand that having good a-level results is important when applying for university, but I also think it is a shame that universities are failing to recognise the importance of personal qualities and are therefore forcing students to push themselves ridiculously hard in order to stand out.

Charlotte Bryan, Sheffield,

Difficulty is subjective.

Catherine, Belfast,

I have read through all these comments with outrage! I have just completed the first year of A levels and received 3 A's and 1 B. The sheer amount of effort and dedication needed to achieve the higher grades is incredible, even for a more able pupil such as myself. You have no idea what it is like.

Lucy, Chichester,

I am about to start my A levels having just got 9 A*s and 5 A's at GCSE, I am fed up of being told that they are easy my hundreds of hours of hard work was for nothing and that all my work for A levels won't be worth anything either. Some pople have to accept young people just work harder to compete

Sophie, west malling,

As someone about to enter sixth form I have to say that the pressure is on! You would agree, that if the the next generations are becoming smarter you would make the test papers harder, therefore 17 year olds wont have to be desperately trying to juggle their time with 7 A levels!!!

Jaia , Berkshire,

I'm a final year student at uni and i've noticed that most, if not all, of my british friends have taken "mickey mouse" subjects at A-level. The rest of us international students have had english, a foreign language, maths, and either a combination of economics/accounts or 2 sciences as subjects.

anya, london, uk/mauritius

With a staggering 11% of all pupils getting three As (the top grade!!) one can hardly distuingish between the brilliant, the bright and the merely moderately intelligent. Have a look at say, the German Abitur, where only about 1% of all pupils get the best mark of 1.0...

Tobias, Oxford,

I'm a chinese college students.A only means a high score,but may not represenet your ability.

I want to make a English frends to improve my English,If necessary

Yaoyihan, lanzhou, China

Amy & NK - students are becoming more intelligent? Is that the arrogance of youth speaking? If it is true, why are they unable to add up, spell, punctuate or even speak properly, much less have any general knowledge?

They are no longer educated, just taught to pass exams

Liz, London,

IB is NOT graded to a curve. The diploma website states "The grading system is criterion based (results are determined by performance against set standards, not by each student’s position in the overall rank order)".

Rick, Bristol, UK

What a shame to hear that admissions officers prefer 16 year olds to narrow their education.

Steve , London,

Why don't they grade on a curve like the International Baccalaureate? When 25% of all students get the top grade, they've only passed a basic standard, not done much better than their peers. But we're not allowed to encourage people to excel - we might hurt the feelings of those too lazy to do well.

Catherine, London,

Clive from Chichester - Human beings are becoming more intelligent, of course they are! Please do look into what has become termed 'the flynn effect' - and incredible phenomenon whereby the intelligence of successive generations can be seen to be increasing at a drastic rate.

Amy, Brussels,

Clive from Chichester, human beings have got brighter.... just as they have got faster, stronger...witness all the world records that are broken at every Olympic games. Our kids are more aware than we were... and probably better educated to meet the needs of a modern society.

NK, Singapore, Singapore

Eleanor, Matlock. If you're watching the Olympics you'll know that success only has meaning if others do less well/lose. If all your mates get As then it's hardly an achievement. Humans haven't become more intelligent over the last 20 years, so the exams simply need to be reset.

Clive, Chichester, UK

If you take, English Language, Business Studies, Travel and Tourism and Sociology you can quite easily get 4A's.

Maths and an English should be compulsary as well as two/three other options. To prove how bright the students really are.

Darren, NW London,

I'm betting that in a few years, the A* will be worth what the A grade is worth today.

Nothing will change unless the culture of the courses change. A single, rigorous 3 hour exam will sort the talent from the rest. Modules and retakes are a cheat's charter and boring, especially for boys.

Bilal Patel, London, UK

A levels cannot bridge the gap between the best and worst when 45% of 18 year olds sit them. If Michael Gove gets his way and all 18 year olds do them A level English will have to include spelling 'cat' or 'house' as well as the study of Hamlet.

R Mason, London, uk

Funny how Labour is blamed for a "problems" in a process started by the Tories. As for the so-called economic "arguments" - UK really had a fantastic economy in the 70s when all those "rigourous" A' levels were being done.

The only problems today are multiple retakes and some easy options.

AR, Reading,

I just wish people would let students feel proud of their hard-earned grades instead of sneering at them as being easily won. Not true - and pressures on teenagers have never been higher. It's always about the negative for young people these days. Give them a break and show a little good grace!

Eleanor, Matlock,

I got an examination paper for the 11+ dated 1950, and hardly any young 15 year olds can do it and get a pass mark. Standards, and teaching standards, have gone down the hole.

m wilson, bidache, france

If A level standard were hept constant then 4 A levels would be attainable by perhaps 1% of entrants.

As usual, Labour has destroyed everything it touches.

I feel desperately sorry for all those students who have worked so hard for a piece of paper not worth the ink it is printed with.

Edwin, Bucharest,

A 97% pass rate indicates that A levels have simply become an attendance certificate. The goal posts have been moved so wide apart that it now takes somebody with the brilliance of an England striker to actually fail to get the ball into the net.

Mike Campbell, Montpellier, France

Time to go back to relative marking:
the top 5% get A grades
the next 10% B grades
the next 15% C grades and so on

And if it's spelt wrong you lose marks.

Then, restore the academic rigour of bygone days, so that universities don't need to teach remedial maths and grammar.

Jan, West Sussex, UK

I took 5 A-levels 17 years ago and wasn't alone in doing so at my comprehensive school. Many others took 4 A-levels. I'm not surprised with the weakened syllabi and the multiple opportunities to retake modules that many students are hitting top grades and finding it hard to stand out from the crowd.

Sophie, London,

I just finished AS cambridge and i got 3 A s but unfortunately i have to have math A level in order to enter a Bsc Economics course when i go to university. Therefore I'm in a situation where im forced to take 5 A levels next year (business st. ,economics, accounts plus english and math)

Nasreen Habib, Manama, Bahrain

My husband (Oxford Scholar, PhD), schoolfriend (1st, Cambridge) her husband (1st Cambridge, PhD, working at Cambridge)....none achieved 3 As at 'A' Level in the "bad old days". And we are to believe the 'A' levels are worth what they were 30 years ago? I think not.

Marion, Budapest,

When I took A-levels in the 1960s, I believe that only the top 50-70% passed, the marking being based purely on the previous year's results. Therefore, the standard was variable. Does anyone else know about this and, if so, what was the actual percentage allowed to get through?

Helen, London, UK

I cannot really see how the introduction of the A* will decrease pressure on students, as surely within a few years we will be back in the same situation as today....

Bianca S, Maidenhead,

The standards have dropped so much over recent years that even your family cat could get straight 'A's. The Government is more concerned with meeting European standards, than producing excellent standards in education.

Matt, Naples, Italy

Honestly, 3 or 4 or maybe 5 is enough for someone who knows what they want. I come from a country with BAC and believe me there's nothing well-rounded about the pupils who pass this kind of examination. They leave school as unoriented as they were before. Quality is what matters, not quantity.

Andrada, tulcea, Romania

I took four A-levels (exc G Studies) in 1994. I was the only one in our VI form college of c.500 pupils to do so! It certainly wasn't the norm even for the brightest students, and I only did so as I wanted to take music but study law at uni, and many redbrick universities wouldn't accept music.

Hannah, shrewsbury,

People worry about these too much. In the end, it's how you perform once you start work that really matters. Richard Branson and Bill Gates didn't complete their education!

Luke Nicolaides, London, UK

The trend towards taking several subjects in slightly less demanding A levels is surely to be welcomed. Effectively we may reach a situation comparable to that in many European countries, where pupils leave school more "well-rounded" after Abitur, Bac, etc. Leaving school with only 3 subjects-no!

Smith, West Midlands, England

Why bother, New Labour has been deliberately destroying British Industry since 2002, see:

Duped Again: Come to Britain, Government Tells Indian Software Companies:

www.itcontractor.com/Articles_IR35_News_Advice/view_article.asp?id_no=355&photopage=0

Brian Drury, London Colney, England

You concentrate too much on exam results. The real measure of education is whether our economy and society is getting better and better. Our wonderful government must be thanked for taking us into 2008 with a marvellous economic performance that runs parallel to exam results.

Brian Lewis, Manila, Philippines

When you read that the traditional subjects English,Maths,Languages,Chemistry,Physics,Biology etc are increasingly being studied for A Levels then perhaps we do not need to worry too much about A Levels in the more fashionable subjects such as Media Studies etc. Universities can select the best

Ed corbett, bridgend, wales

Too easy if you ask me. In my day, the 1970's, an A result would be few and far between !!!!!!

ian payne, walsall,