A levels - aaaagh!

It's also interesting that when girls outperform boys overall in exams it's seen as a cause of concern, questions are asked about why this is and what can be done about it (I've seen numerous articles along those lines in the past). I highly doubt similar will be asked on this - it's more seen as the natural order of things being restored.

I share your sentiments on that headline. It seems to be intended to suggest boys have beaten girls "to top grades" as a result of tougher exams (even though this would make no sense if the intention; when exams were apparently not as tough boys were taking them and getting lower grades on the whole).

Having read the article now it doesn't seem they're even merely suggesting it: The dramatic reversal of fortunes is thought to be fuelled by the new "tougher" A-levels, which have less coursework and no modules. Girls have outperformed boys every year since 2000.

They seem to want to suggest the results are as such due to them being "tough" so boys are doing better than girls. In actual fact I'd have thought, and have heard from others, coursework is quite important in preparing for university and the workplace so the reduction in it isn't a good thing, though this is another argument. The gap in A* and A grades is 0.5% as it happens, with boys at 26.6% and girls at 26.1%.

Ummm, yes, girls got better grades all the 6 years before because the exams were so easy and the boys just ... were too stupid to succeed at those easy exams? Makes no sense whatsoever.

(And amusingly, this may be because so many girls nowadays believe they are boys; I think it is more than the other way round. If they're actually counted as boys, that might explain the results ... )