THEY'VE done it again.

After two years of hard slog, A-level students across Hampshire have scored the county's best exam passes yet.

Thousands will today find out if they made the grade to get into their university of choice.

Records at sixth form colleges tumbled, with the overall national A to E pass rate set to rise for the 25th year running.

Peter Symonds College in Winchester and Southampton's King Edward VI School were the highest fliers - both getting pass rates above 99.5 per cent.

Experts were predicting that the number of exam entries awarded an A grade will top 25 per cent for the first time.

Last year, 24.1 per cent of all tests taken received the top grade - double the number in 1990 - although only six per cent got straight As.

The average pass rate last year was 96.6 per cent.

Today's result will reignite the debate over grade inflation and whether exams are getting easier.

Ministers and teachers say that the improvements are a sign of success and point to better teaching, fairer assessment and harder-working pupils.

However, critics say that the exams are now easier.

Southampton Itchen MP John Denham, right, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said: "The truth is that standards in education have risen and as a result more students are achieving higher grades."

He added: "I think in some ways we've got to move on from this debate, which is undermining what students are achieving, and should celebrate it.

"I congratulate everyone in Southampton for what they have achieved."

In a recent report written for the Office for National Statistics, researchers found that on average A-levels for pupils of the same ability improved by two grades between 1988 and 2006.

Earlier this month the examinations regulator, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, announced a major reform of A-levels, saying that there would be a new A* grade for candidates scoring more than 90 per cent in final tests from 2008.

The changes follow complaints from some universities and businesses that so many pupils have been getting A grades that it is hard to distinguish between them.

It has prompted some Hampshire colleges, such as Taunton's and Brockenhurst, to also offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) qualification.

Toby Wright, graduate recruitment partner at the Southampton office of accountancy firm Deloitte, said: "It is becoming difficult to differentiate between A-level candidates on academic results alone.

"We now place increasing importance on the skills gained through work experience and extra-curricular activities.

"The points system used by IB does make it easier to differentiate between candidates.

"The assessment process is consistent worldwide and the IB enables us to assess candidates on an equal basis."

Trevor Thorne, a spokesman for Southampton Solent University, said that students could only sit the exams in front of them.

He said that universities now got more performance information, such as marks in the six modules that make up the overall grade, which was used along with students' personal statements and references.

"We think we are getting a pretty good picture," he said.

For the full story see today's Daily Echo