Students were today celebrating another year of record A-Level passes, with the best-performing Sussex schools getting 100 per cent pass rates.

Overall rates reveal the 22nd consecutive annual rise in passes nationally, by 1.6 per cent to 96 per cent.

More than a fifth of results were at grade A, with Brighton and Hove outperforming the national average.

Critics have already begun attacking the figures, claiming exams are now too easy.

But for pupils gathering at school gates across the county today, the all-important grades were the outcome of two years of dedicated study.

Nationally, the proportion of A-grades increased by 0.8 per cent to 22.4 per cent.

This year's results saw boys fighting back, narrowing the traditional gap between the sexes, particularly in maths, law and psychology.

The number of students choosing so-called soft subjects, such as psychology, sociology and media studies, continued to rise steadily. Religious studies saw the greatest renaissance, with 14,000 candidates, a 13.8 per cent rise attributed by some academics to young people's renewed interest in world faiths post-September 11.

Traditional languages also made a comeback, with Irish and Welsh both in the top ten for increased entries.

Physics and other sciences continued to decline in popularity and there were 16.3 per cent fewer students studying computing this year.

School standards minister Mr Miliband said today's results were the tip of an "education revolution" which was opening up more opportunities for young people.

He urged students to ignore accusations of falling standards, saying: "This is simply a myth. These results are built on the hard work of students, schools and colleges, which merits success."

Thursday August 19, 2004