Mark Your Calendars: A-Level Results Day 2026 Is Just Around the Corner!

HUNDREDS of thousands of teenagers across the UK are counting down to one of the most nerve-racking mornings of the year.

Here’s everything you need to know about when this year’s land, and what to do if you don’t get the grades you were after.

A-level results will be released in mid-August Credit: Alamy

When is A-level results day 2026?

results day falls on Thursday, August 13, 2026, with grades released from 8am.

The Joint Council for Qualifications sets the date and it applies across every exam board, including AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, WJEC, and CCEA in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

This covers AS levels, the Extended Project, free-standing maths qualifications, and level 3 applied and vocational technical qualifications.

OCR’s Cambridge Technicals at level 2 and level 3 can be issued to students slightly earlier from Monday, August 10, though and colleges can choose to hold them back until the main results days.

Bear in mind that 8am is the earliest permitted time results can be handed out – not a fixed release time.

set their own arrangements, with some handing out printed slips, while others use online portals or email, so it’s worthwhile to check beforehand.

What happens if you miss your grades?

The Ucas Hub updates on results morning and tells you where you stand with your first-choice and back-up.

It could show one of the following outcomes:

• Your place at your first choice is confirmed
• You have been placed at your back-up
• You have been offered a changed course, which might mean a different course, a different start date or a different point of entry
• Your application is still awaiting a decision
• You are eligible for Clearing

You then need to check the details of the offer and do what the university asks, which may include proving your qualifications or meeting any outstanding conditions.

A changed-course offer requires a quick decision – you normally have five days to accept or decline, and letting it sit could cost you the place.

Awaiting a decision does not mean you have been rejected.

sometimes take students who have narrowly missed an offer, so it is worth getting on the phone.

Students can only use Clearing once their status says they are eligible, or when they have formally declined or released themselves from a place they are holding.

The Hub will not show your actual grades – those only come from your school or college.

Anyone who has not applied to a university can still start now.

The final deadline for a 2026 application is 6pm on Thursday, September 24.

Monday, October 19 is the last date to add a Clearing choice, but not a cut-off for applying.

Can you challenge an A-level grade?

Yes, but a review of marking and an are two different things, and they run in that order.

If you are at a school or college, the request has to come from them, so speak to your exams officer.

If they refuse to ask for one, you are entitled to use the school’s internal appeals procedure to challenge that refusal.

But a review can push a mark down as well as up, which is why the student has to give written consent and the school has to keep it on file.

There may also be a fee if the grade does not change, so it’s a good idea to check what it costs first.

If a university or further education place hangs on the outcome, the cut-off for a priority review is August 20, otherwise the standard deadline is September 24.

An appeal only comes after all that.

When the exam board sends out the result of your re-check or review, you have 30 days from that date to appeal it.

An appeal has two stages – if you are unhappy with the first answer, you have another 14 days to ask for a hearing.

If you have asked for a review that could change your grade, tell the university straight away.

The exam board does not tell or the university that a review is under way, though it will report any grade change that comes out of it, and the university is under no obligation to hold your place in the meantime.