THOUSANDS of students in Dorset and Hampshire will be getting their GCSE results tomorrow.

Anxious teenagers will turn up at schools and colleges to find out how they have fared in the exams.

Education experts are predicting that nationally results will fall because of a major upheaval in the exams system.

Last summer, the proportion of GCSEs awarded at least a C fell for the first time in the exam’s history, with 69.4 per cent getting this grade or higher, down 0.4 per cent percentage points on 2011.

There was also a fall of in the proportion of GCSEs awarded the top grades and drops in the percentage of English, maths and science GCSE entries achieving passes at A* to C.

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said it was “likely” that results will drop this year because of changes to key GCSEs and moves by students to sit different exams.

But he added that pressure on schools to ensure pupils meet a set standard could counteract changes within exams.

This year schools must ensure that at least 40 per cent of pupils get five or more Cs at GCSE including English and maths, as well as meet national progress measures. Those that do not meet the threshold, which is reported in performance tables, are considered to be failing.

“All the effort going on from schools to push up the marks will come up against the determination of the Government and Ofqual to secure standards. Most of the indications are that it will go down.”

Log on to the Daily Echo website tomorrow for rolling coverage of all the latest news and reaction to the GCSE results. Our live blog will contain pictures and stories from secondary schools across the area. We'll have a special picture supplement inside Saturday’s paper.