Three friends in the same form at Chadwell Heath Academy, Christie Gardens, refused to be outdone by each other when they all achieved six A*s and four As today.

The trio of Adam Gadhvi, Mueez Queresha and Lucien Nzotarh were among the GCSE students nervously opening their envelopes to find out their exam results this morning.

Adam, who wants to be a surgeon, said: “As soon as got my results I called my parents and they were really pleased.”

A number of students showed an ambitious nature by not being entirely satisfied with their results.

Gavin Loh, 16, said he’d done “pretty well”, gaining two A*s, three As, three Bs and two Cs, even though he hadn’t expected to get any Cs.

He said he’d been too busy to get nervous about the results.

He added: “My way of thinking is don’t worry about it until it happens.”

Jason Brathwaite, 16, had one A* in additional science but felt he should have got more.

His other grades were four As, three Bs and a C.

He said: “I’m not good at course work but I’m pretty happy with that.”

Tamara Chambers, 16, said friends and family had told her not to get too stressed in the run-up to today.

She said: “Everyone was talking about it but I wasn’t nervous but by yesterday, I started to get scared.”

In the end, she could proudly say she’d achieved three A*s and six As.