Cambridge A-Level Results Arrive for 368,000 Students, On-Screen Exams Debut

Nearly 368,000 students in around 3,500 international schools across 128 countries collected their Cambridge International AS- and A-Level results on 11 August. Total entries for the June 2026 series reached 737,000, a 5 percent rise on the previous year, with Indonesia posting a 12 percent increase and China a 7 percent rise. According to Tes, the June series was the largest on record for the qualification, driven partly by continued expansion across Asian markets where British-curriculum international schools have grown steadily over the past decade.

Rod Smith, group managing director of international education at Cambridge, attributed the demand to families seeing A Levels as a qualification combining deep subject knowledge with skills universities and employers value most. The results come as more international schools in Asia have begun offering both A Levels and the IB Diploma simultaneously, sharpening the annual comparison parents make when choosing a secondary pathway. Schools in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Jakarta all reported results across both qualifications in the space of five weeks.

First on-screen examinations delivered

The June series also marked a historic shift in how Cambridge runs its assessments. For the first time, the board delivered papers on screen across a range of subjects, a format developed in collaboration with schools over several years. The digital delivery is designed to give students an alternative to paper-based examination that universities will recognise. Whether schools in Asia move toward on-screen sittings as the default in the medium term remains to be seen, though the infrastructure investment required is significant.

The five most popular subjects globally were unchanged from 2025: English General Paper, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and English Language. Beyond Asia, the series also demonstrated how Cambridge manages access challenges: nearly 30,000 students in conflict-affected regions completed portfolio assessments instead of sitting examinations, a contingency method evaluated by Cambridge examiners and recognised by universities. The arrangement is an established backstop, though its use at this scale is a reminder that for all the sector's growth in Asia, the global qualification operates in conditions that vary widely.

For British international schools across Southeast Asia and China, the August results day now functions as a second major results season alongside the IB Diploma outcomes published in July. The growing calendar of results days is itself a sign of how diversified the qualification landscape has become, with more families in cities from Kuala Lumpur to Shanghai now tracking two separate release dates each summer as their children move through secondary school.