EXETER College students have scored among the best A-level results in the country.

Pippa Howell, Edward King and Hannah Gray all received letters of commendation from the AQA examining board congratulating them on achieving among the top five marks nationally for their respective subjects.

Eighteen-year-old Pippa earned the exemplary results in two science subjects, beating more than 9,000 biology students and 5,000 physics candidates.

And Edward and Hannah achieved the accolade in photography and communication studies respectively.

Pippa’s straight A grades in biology, physics, Andrew who achieved 4 straight Asmaths and chemistry have earned her a place at Cambridge to study natural sciences and chemistry. Her twin sister Anna landed the same results in the same subjects – but is instead choosing Oxford to read biosciences.

The twins were among a record-breaking 25 Exeter College students who scored straight As in at least three subjects in this year’s A-level results. Pippa, from St Leonard’s, said: “I am really, really happy and surprised. We both worked very hard. “We didn’t choose different universities because we wanted to be apart. We just preferred different courses at different universities.”

Another star student Andrew Seaton achieved four straight As and a place at Bristol to study Exeter College students reading their results for the first timehistory despite having no qualifications when he arrived at Exeter College three years ago. The 19-year-old who won an Exeter College award for his achievements is now deciding on whether to accept a place at Bristol to read history or take a gap year.

He said: “I was home-educated because my family moved around quite a lot so I hadn’t done any GCSEs when I got to college. “But I did the Fast Track programme where I could do two years’ worth of GCSEs in one year and then went on to do A-levels.”

An Exeter College student receiving his resultsAlso celebrating top results is Lucy Huppler who gained four straight As to land a place at Bristol to study medicine. The 18-year-old from Pennsylvania said: “I feel very excited about being able to do such a prestigious course at one of the best universities in the world.”

Overall, the college sustained its overall pass rate of 98 per cent, with 25 subjects seeing 100 per cent pass rates. These include English literature and language, further maths, religious studies, biology, geography, chemistry, fine art, German, human biology, film and video, drama and theatre studies, economics and business studies.

First-year Exeter College A-level students were also celebrating as the overall pass rate for AS levels rose by more than three per cent to 89 per cent this year.

Principal Richard Atkins said: “We are very pleased to have sustained the overall pass rate from 2007 as well as seeing 25 subjects with 100 per cent pass rates. “I would like to congratulate all our students on their success which will enable them to progress to the universities of their choice. I would also like to thank our staff for their commitment and hard work.”