Education and arts correspondent, BBC News NIPublished8 hours agoMore than 26,000 students will receive their A-level and AS-level results in Northern Ireland on Thursday.
Northern Ireland pupils are again expected to be awarded more top grades than their peers in England and Wales.
In 2025, more than 30% of entries in Northern Ireland received A* or A grades at A-level, and results in 2026 are expected to be broadly similar.
Scotland has a separate system of qualifications.
Many students can pick up their A and AS-level results online from 08:00 BST on Thursday, but some will still go to their school to receive their results in person.
Students will also receive results of some BTEC qualifications on Thursday.
The vast majority of A-level and AS-level qualifications are taken through the Northern Ireland exams board CCEA, though some students will also receive grades from English and Welsh exam boards.
Many will also want to get advice from their teachers and to celebrate with or console friends.
Students will use their AS, A-level and BTEC results to apply to university or Further Education (FE) colleges, begin an apprenticeship or seek work.
There are big changes on the way for qualifications in Northern Ireland, though they will not affect students currently taking AS or A-level courses.
From 2029, there will be a new two-year modular A-level with three separate topics or exams.
Once the new A-level is introduced in 2029, CCEA will no longer offer a separate AS-level qualification.
The changes are part of wider reform of education, called TransformED, introduced by the Education Minister Paul Givan.
According to the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), there has been a slight fall in the proportion of young people in Northern Ireland who have applied to go to university in recent years.
In 2022, for instance, 52.8% of 18-year-olds applied to go to university but that had fallen to 49.1% in 2026.
Universities operate a system called clearing, which enables students who have not been able to get into their first choice to find another university place or course.
Higher Level Apprenticeships (HLA), which combine paid work with learning, have become a more popular option in recent years.
According to the Department of Economy, more than 2,100 students were enrolled on an HLA course in an FE College in Northern Ireland in 2024/25.
CCEA will operate a results helpline from Thursday 13 August until Wednesday 26 August on 028 9026 1260.
The Department for the Economy’s careers service is also operating an online advice service or by telephoning 0300 200 7820.
GCSE results will be released on Thursday 20 August.
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