TOP 3 sounds like a promise of exactly three rows, but Access keeps records tied at the cutoff. Before removing an apparent extra result, inspect the field that determines the order and decide what the report means by “top”.

In a disposable Access table called Results, use five distinct ResultID values with scores 90, 80, 80, 80 and 70. The identifiers distinguish the records even when the scores are equal. Use a copied SELECT query in SQL View:

SELECT TOP 3 ResultID, Score
FROM Results
ORDER BY Score DESC;

Inspect the cutoff rather than only counting rows

Microsoft's Access SQL reference states that TOP does not choose between equal values. For this sample, the cutoff is 80, so the record scoring 90 and all three records scoring 80 belong in the result. Four rows are consistent with that rule. Without ORDER BY, TOP returns an arbitrary qualifying set rather than a meaningful highest-score selection.

Check the actual ResultIDs alongside their scores. Two rows that look identical after omitting identifying fields may still represent different observations. Do not delete source records merely because the limited report shows repeated scores.

Decide whether ties should remain together

If the requirement is to include everyone tied at the threshold, document why the row count can exceed the requested number. The reader should understand that the cutoff is a score rule, not a fixed-capacity allocation.

If the task requires exactly three selected records, establish an additional ordering rule with the report owner. A unique identifier can make an order deterministic, but identifier order is not automatically a fair or meaningful way to choose between equally scored records. Changing the tie-breaker changes the selection policy.

Test the accepted rule on both tied and untied samples. For the real report, inspect the last included score and the first excluded score, along with all records sharing the boundary value. Preserve the complete source and the selection rule so the output can be explained without treating legitimate ties as database corruption.

Sources: Microsoft: Access TOP predicate; Microsoft: Access top-value queries.