I think it's absurd to say that A levels are now much easier than they were 10 or 20 years ago; given how much work most people have to put in; much more so than ever before.
It's outstandingly bad logic to think that just because more people are getting As (not that much more anyway) the exams must be getting easier, and it's normally snooty middle aged journalists who make these judgements rather than teachers, exam boards and students (i.e, the people who would actually know anything about A levels).
There are many reasons that could account for improved results; better teaching, better facilities, better resources, the modular structure of the courses which allow more focused revision, the wide range of courses available, increased availablity of past papers, possibility of resists, etc - NOT the exams themselves getting easier. In the past 10 years, 20 million pounds have been spent on A level teaching; it would be a bit bizarre if results weren't improving.
Further reasons why fewer people would have got As 20 years ago was because of the norm marking system that was used up until about the 1990s, (where a certain percentage of candidates got an A, and a certain percentage had to fail every year).
This system wasn’t in any way ideal; while awarding grades to certain percentiles in big subjects like maths and English might give relatively fair and accurate results, in smaller more specialised subjects the system simply wouldn’t work, and so was quite rightly ditched across the board (though to some extent some moderation still goes on, normally because exam boards cave in to pressure from the media or government), in favour of a criteria marking system; this automatically makes it possible for more people to get As, but doesn’t mean the standards of the exam are slipping in any way.
There were also certain compulsory subjects, so students would be obliged to take certain subjects that they were always doomed to fail.
My dad's been a teacher of A levels for 35 years (English) and says that if anything, questions are getting harder, more demanding and profound than ever before. He's not alone; the vast majority of teachers, represented by the NUT, reject the suggestion than A levels are easy.
Perhaps this varies across subjects; but I don't think glancing at a few past papers can really substantiate the general claim that A levels are easier; for one thing; this disregards any differences in course scope, structure and content; science courses 20 years ago may have gone further into some areas and less deeply into others, not to mention grade boundaries and all the rest of it.
People do seem to be forgetting that only 44% of 18 year olds even take A levels, so only about 4% of the entire age group get three As, and this is without taking into consideration differences in subject choices, UMS marks, and those who took more than three.
Certainly some things about A levels needs to change; the superficialities of marking schemes in certain subjects; which revolve more around technique than nurturing real originality and creativity, for example. But judging by the course content, the demands of the course and work involved, I don't see how anyone can say A levels are easy.