Another improvement in GCSE results is expected as about 600,000 students receive their grades.
GCSE results have improved again, with more top grades being achieved in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Last year 62.4% of the entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were awarded grade C or above, with 19.1% given A* or A grades.
More than 600,000 young people are getting their results, and almost one in five exam entries has been awarded an A* or A grade.
Analysts say schools in England have been under particular pressure to improve results in maths.
The proportion of entries getting grades of A* to C rose from 62.4% to 63.3%, while 19.5% got an A or A*.
A further fall in those studying modern foreign languages is expected, with a rise in Arabic, Chinese and Polish.
The gap between boys and girls continues to narrow. Science entries rose, but French and German fell.
Northern Ireland is usually the top performing part of the UK, and girls' results will be better than boys', though boys have been closing the gap in recent years.
However, more people are taking Spanish (entries are up 3 percentage points) and other modern languages as a whole - these include Chinese, Arabic and Polish - are up 5.5 percentage points.
Last year the pass rate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was 98.1%.
There was a tiny fall in the overall pass rate - entries marked from A* to G. It fell from 98.1% to 98%. The total number of entries rose a little to just over 5.8m.
Top grades
The proportion of entries achieving A* to A rose from 19.1% to 19.5%.
The statistics are published by the Joint Council for Qualifications - the umbrella group for all the main examination boards.
The improvement this year is testament both of effective teaching and the dedication and hard work of studentsquote here Jim Sinclair, JCQ
The Northern Ireland board CCEA delivered its results to students two days ago. These account for about 70% of the GCSEs taken in the province.
Results in both English and Maths improved slightly, with more pupils scoring at least a grade C in these two key subjects than last year.
The government says its focus will remain on "getting the basics right".
In English, the proportion being graded from A* to C went up from 61.6% to 62.2%. For maths, the proportion rose from 54.3% to 55.2%.
Schools Minister Jim Knight said: "English and maths, in particular, are the bedrock of every child's education and lifelong learning and it is wholly correct that the greatest scrutiny is given to these subjects.
Analysts had said schools in England in particular had been under pressure to improve in maths. The government had said its priority was to get the basics right.
"That is why we have introduced greater transparency to the published statistics, and from last year have published headline rates showing the proportion of pupils gaining five good GCSEs including English and maths.
Girls still outshine boys, but boys continue to catch up across the grades, narrowing the gap.
"This new, sensible measure is helping to sharpen schools' focus on English and maths performance."
For example, in grades A* to C, the gap narrowed by 0.6 percentage points.
There has been interest this year in the relative performance of the state and independent sectors in terms of the top grades.
'Positive signs'
Data from the exam boards shows that between 2000 and 2005 (the latest available), the proportion of GCSE entries from independent schools awarded A* or A grades rose from 47.1% to 51.7% (up 4.6 percentage points).
The statistics were published by the Joint Council for Qualifications - the umbrella group for all the main examination boards.
This was an increase of just under 10% over the five years.
Its director, Jim Sinclair, said: "The improvement in the GCSE results this year is testament both of effective teaching and the dedication and hard work of students.
In state grammar schools the rise was 6.5 points, from 43.3% to 49.8% - an increase of 15%.
"There are positive signs overall, with increased entries in mathematics and science, and the performance in all subject areas improving."
In comprehensives, which account for the vast majority of entries, the rise was just 2.2 points, from 11.9% to 14.1% - but at more than 18% their rate of improvement was the greater.
Fewer students are studying foreign languages.
Wider gap
Exam entries in German were down 10.2 percentage points from last year to just 81,000, while French fell 8.2 points. Teenagers at state schools no longer have to study a foreign language after the age of 14.
In secondary moderns the increase was more than 42%, though in absolute terms the results were the poorest, up from 5.4% to 7.7% of entries.
There was also a fall in the number of students taking history - entries were down 1.6 percentage points.
In further education colleges there was actually a decline in the proportion A* and A grades of almost 11%, down from 9.3% of entries to 8.3%.
Subjects such as media studies, business, and statistics increased sharply.
In total there are likely to have been almost six million exam entries in 2007. The first collated figures on how well candidates have done - such as what proportion of them got the equivalent of five good GCSEs - are due in October. The 2007 school league tables in England, based on those figures, are due to be published next January.
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