The percentage of GCSE entries awarded the top grades in Northern Ireland has fallen since last year but remains higher than pre-pandemic levels.
More than 30,000 students in the North received the results of their GCSE exams, which are typically taken at age 16, on Thursday.
A total of 34.5 per cent of students received grade A/7 and above, compared to 37 per cent in 2022 and 30.5 per cent in 2019.
More than one in five entries - 86.8 per cent - scored grade C/4 and above. Last year that figure was 90 per cent, and 82.2 per cent in 2019.
Almost all entries – 99.5 per cent – received grade G/1 or above, the lowest mark available.
The grades awarded demonstrated a similar pattern to that shown in the A-level results, which were released last week.
Northern Ireland’s exam board, CCEA, said the grades reflected the “journey back to pre-pandemic awarding arrangements.”
This year students were provided with advance information in the majority of GCSE subjects in recognition of the disruption students may have faced due to Covid-19.
CCEA said it expects to return to pre-pandemic standards across all GCSE standards by next summer’s exams.
Girls continued to outscore boys at GCSE, with 10 per cent more girls than boys receiving grade A/7 or above, and 3.7 per cent more girls than boys receiving grade C/4 and above.
There was no change in the most popular subjects, with 41.6 per cent of all entries in STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The percentage of entries in STEM subjects rose by 2.5 per cent this year.
Most students in Northern Ireland sit exams sat by the local CCEA exam board, but they can opt to sit papers set by boards in England and Wales.
The vast majority of students – 96.7 per cent – receive a mark graded at A* to G, but some get grades marked 9-1.
