Revealed: the most popular GCSE and A-level subjects in 2026

The first annual round of summer exam entries data since the landmark curriculum and assessment review was published today.

While the long-term impact of the review and the subsequent government response remains to be seen, today’s data sets the scene for any changes to England’s secondary school curriculum and assessment landscape in the years ahead.

The Department for Education said it aimed, for example, to scrap the English Baccalaureate performance measure, following the “failure of the EBacc measure to encourage take-up of subjects including languages” and its “constraining” of student choice.

The EBacc, introduced by former education secretary Michael Gove in 2010, was attacked for prioritising certain “academic” subjects at GCSE.

The previous government set a target for 75 per cent of Year 10 students to start GCSEs within EBacc combinations from September 2022, increasing to 90 per cent from 2025. However, 2023-24 figures showed EBacc take-up at only 40.4 per cent.

EBacc entries show little change

Today’s data shows little shift in the proportions of entries in EBacc and non-EBacc subjects in 2026, with students having made their choices before the curriculum and assessment review was published in November.

In June 2025, 82.2 per cent of GCSE entries were for EBacc subjects and 17.8 per cent for non-EBacc subjects. Today’s summer entries data shows that 82.1 per cent of entries were for EBacc subjects and 17.9 per cent for non-EBacc subjects.

EBacc entries have increased by 11 per cent since 2025, while non-EBacc entries have gone up by 9 per cent.

Overall, GCSE entries increased by 1.1 per cent, from 5,777,020 in summer 2025 to 5,840,185 this year.

The number of students entering EBacc subjects this year grew from 4,751,520 to 4,792,500, an increase of 0.9 per cent.

Despite this, there were reductions in entries for eight of the 15 EBacc subjects, with computing seeing the largest drop at 7 per cent. Maths had the largest increase, up 2.4 per cent.

There have long been concerns about languages uptake, and there was a steep drop in entries for French (down 5.5 per cent) and “other modern languages” (down 3.8 per cent), partially offset by small percentage increases in Spanish and French. Last year Spanish overtook French as the most popular language at GCSE.

Combined science, which is worth two GCSEs, is once again the most-entered GCSE subject this year.

Ofqual’s provisional entries data for the 2025-26 summer exams series reveals that 951,510 students entered the qualification this year, with maths the second-most popular subject at 876,955 entrants.

Entries for the individual courses of biology, chemistry and physics trail some way behind, with biology the most popular of the three.

Among all of the EBacc subjects, maths saw the largest increase in entries compared with summer 2025 (2.4 per cent), followed by English language (2.2 per cent) and combined science (1.8 per cent).

There was a minor increase in history entries, from 293,835 to 295,095 this summer (up 0.4 per cent), but geography fell by 0.8 per cent.

For non-EBacc subjects, nine out 17 increased in popularity. Religious studies remained the most popular with 240,945 entries, although this was a reduction of 0.6 per cent on summer 2025.

Art and design subjects (199,435 entries) and business studies (141,135 entries) were the only other non-EBacc subjects to surpass 100,000 entries, with the latter growing by 8.5 per cent in popularity this year.

There was an even bigger percentage rise in statistics, up by 11.9 per cent to 39,360. Last year, Tes revealed that entries for GCSE statistics had increased by 96 per cent between 2021 and 2025.

Among the subjects with the largest falls in entries this year were “other sciences” (down 17.3 per cent), classical subjects (down 8.9 per cent) and engineering (down 8.3 per cent).

A-level entries increase

Meanwhile, A-level entries increased by 2.9 per cent, from 821,875 in summer 2025 to 845,485 in summer 2026.

Maths remained the most-entered A level this year and was once again the only subject with more than 100,000 entries. A-level maths entries grew by 3.9 per cent.

For the first time, economics is one of the five most popular A-level qualifications, with entries increasing by 10.7 per cent to 46,365 this year.

The A-level subject with the most significant year-on-year growth is political studies, with entrants increasing by 13.1 per cent.

Entries for A-level history increased from 40,940 to 43,150 (up 5.4 per cent), while geography entries marginally decreased, by 0.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, fewer students took AS levels this year - entries have been in decline since the qualification was decoupled from A levels in 2015 - with overall entries reducing by 3.2 per cent.

There were 50,645 AS-level entries, a fall of 21 per cent since 2022.