An unprecedented annual rise in the A-level pass rate made for many delighted faces as students opened their results on Thursday. 
The A-level "gender gap" has accelerated, with 95.4% of girls passing and 93% of boys
The Lee family from Manchester celebrate A grades all round
Ruth de Souza and Vishni Balakrishnan open exam results at St Dunstan's College, south east London
Hugs for Paul Nicholas who got 5 As (L) but Sarah Hunt must wait for her history result due to an Edexcel delay
Double figures: Twins Bahar and Negar Mirshekar-Syahkal and Suzannah and Nicola Robertson gets As
Computer whizz: Ilia Karmanov, 11, passes his A-level in IT studies
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