There is a “worrying” gender divide in the subjects chosen by A-level pupils in Britain, experts warned yesterday.

Girls are significantly more likely to opt for English and psychology courses while large proportions of boys opt for physics and maths, according to official figures.

This year’s A-level results also show that boys are pulling ahead, outperforming girls in A* grades for the second year running.

Overall, 7.9 per cent of boys’ entries attained an A* compared with 7.4 per cent of girls – a gender gap of 0.5 per cent.

Last year there was a 0.1 per cent difference between the sexes with boys on eight per cent and girls on 7.9 per cent.

It means that, while boys’ results at A* have fallen by 0.1 per cent year on year, the proportion of girls’ entries gaining the top mark have fallen by 0.5 per cent compared with last year.

Across the UK girls are still slightly ahead in A*-A grades combined, but their results dropped 0.5 per cent to narrow the gap between the genders. Overall, 26.7 per cent of girls’ entries got at least an A grade, compared with 27.2 per cent last year, while 25.9 per cent of boys’ exams achieved this standard, up from 25.8 per cent.

In England alone, there was a 0.6 percentage point gap between the sexes at A* this year, with boys ahead on eight per cent, while at A*-A grades, girls were still ahead with 26.6 per cent of their entries awarded one of the two top marks, compared with 26 per cent of boys.

The figures from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) show huge gender differences in pupils’ choices in subject and officials said the gap has grown this year. Three quarters of psychology exams and seven in 10 English A-levels were sat by girls.

Meanwhile, four in every five entries for physics were for boys as well as 60.7 per cent of maths exams.

Andrew Hall, chief executive of exam board AQA, added: “There are clearly some very strong gender differences. Those trends have been there over time. What we notice this year is a very significant widening of the gap.”