Teens across Britain take to social media to celebrate and commiserate with memes about their A-level results

The overall pass rates for A-levels were today revealed to have dropped to their lowest level for eight years as major changes to the exams system began to take hold.

The A*-E pass rate fell to its lowest level since 2010, while the A*-C rate was down to its lowest since 2014 as nervous youngsters fretted about their future after the results came out in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The top result of A* fell to its lowest level since 2013, although there was good some news for high achievers as more than one in four A-levels were awarded an A or A* this year - the highest proportion for six years.

Today, teenagers across Britain celebrated and commiserated with each other with a series of memes. Some joked they would beg universities to take them, while one said: 'Can't fail your A-levels if you never open your results.'

Meanwhile initial figures show fewer students have been accepted on to UK degree courses this year. Ucas data shows that 411,860 have taken up places so far, down 1 per cent on the same point last year.

Some 26,400 European Union students have been accepted to study in Britain, which is up 1 per cent on last year - alongside a record 31,510 students from outside the EU, which is a bigger rise of 4 per cent. 

It comes after a drop in applications to start degrees - fuelled in part by a fall in the population of 18-year-olds - and amid major changes to A-levels, with a move away from coursework and modular exams during the course.

Data published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) today revealed that 26.4 per cent of UK entries were given one of the two top grades - up 0.1 percentage points on 2017. This is the highest percentage since 2012.

MailOnline