More than 10,000 fewer students are sitting GCSE computing compared to two years ago, while French has also seen a sharp decline. Ofqual has released its provisional entry statistics for GCSEs and A-levels for this year’s summer exams. Here’s what you need to know… 1. Overall entries up again after dip Last year’s GCSE and A-level entries saw a drop in entries by 0.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively. This was despite the slight increase in the number of 16- and 18-year-olds that year. This was also after the number of GCSE entries had been “slowly but steadily increasing” since 2021. At the time Ofqual said the decrease in A-level entries was because that cohort had sat their GCSEs in 2023, when grading went back to pre-pandemic standards after grades soared due to Covid marking. But GCSE entries increased by 1.1 per cent, to 5,840,185 in summer 2026. The number of A-level entries have also increased to 845,485 – a 2.9 per cent rise. This was down to a 4.3 per cent increase in the number of 18 year olds, Ofqual said. AS-level entries decreased by 3.2 per cent, continuing a decline seen since they were decoupled from A-levels a decade ago. 2. Computing and French GCSE entries fall The number of students taking GCSE computing fell by 7 per cent compared to the previous year. The subject had started to decline last year after year-on-year rises since 2022, peaking at 93,980 entries in 2024. But this summer just 83,330 students have entered the subject. French also saw a 5.5 per cent drop. Entries rose between 2022 and 2024 to 130,650 but have dropped to 121,040 this year. German saw a slight rise of 0.3 per cent to 32,525, after entries fell by 7.6 per cent last year. Spanish is now firmly the most popular language GCSE, rising by 0.5 per cent to 132,680 entries this year. Source Ofqual Biology, chemistry and physics also saw a further decline in entries, with each subject seeing a 1 per cent decrease. However combined science saw a rise of 1.8 per cent. The number of students taking the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) suite of subjects increased by 0.9 per cent. The government announced last year that the measure would be scrapped as part of its curriculum and assessment review. But pupils generally choose their GCSE options in year 9, meaning the impact of the government’s decision won’t be seen immediately. Out of the EBacc subjects, GCSE maths saw the biggest rise in entries at 2.4 per cent. 3. Statistics GCSE entries up by more than 10% The non-EBacc subjects with the biggest decreases in entries included other sciences (down 17.3 per cent), classical subjects (down 8.9 per cent) and engineering (down 8.3 per cent). But media/film/TV studies saw a 5.1 per cent rise, business studies rose by 8.5 per cent and statistics rose by 11.9 per cent. Overall entry for non-EBacc subjects increased by 2.2 per cent this year. 4. Politics A-level on the rise… Moving on to A-levels, politics saw the largest increase of 13.1 per cent. This was followed by law (11.6 per cent), economics (10.7 per cent) and further maths (8.6 per cent). A-level maths, psychology and biology remain the most popular subjects this year, with maths attracting 109,875 entries, psychology getting 76,765 entries and biology attaining 68,860 entries. These subjects each saw an increase of 3.9 per cent, 4.4 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively. Source Ofqual 5. …but classics, drama and English literature face decline Meanwhile, classics A-level saw the largest decline, with 9.6 per cent fewer entries. Drama and music also saw a decline of 9.5 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively. English literature A-level also saw a 5.8 per cent drop in entries, despite English going up by 4 per cent, and English language and literature and increasing slightly by 0.6 per cent. But English literature still gets more far entries than either of those subjects at 32,890, making it the 11th most popular subject at A-level.