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Ulster GCSE students continue to outshine their peers in England and Wales as figures show another improvement in exam results here.
The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) published Northern Ireland's GCSE examination performance figures on behalf of all the awarding bodies operating in Northern Ireland.
The figures show a slight increase in the percentage of entries achieving the top A* grade, from 7.8% to 8.2%. Grades A*-A show a 0.5 % increase to 24.8%, and entries gaining grades A*-C have increased by 0.7%, to 72.4%.
While girls continue to outperform boys, the boys are steadily closing the gap.
The difference in performance at A* to C has narrowed from 9.5% in 2002 to 6.5% this year.
Four pupils at Victoria College in Belfast received 11 A* grades in their exams.
Olivia Boyd, Laura Caul, Manvi Singhal and Melissa Dring received 11 top grades.
Manvi Singhal and fellow student Julie McGovern also scored two of the top five marks in GCSE English Literature, out of an entry of 364,832 candidates at the AQA examination board.
Principal Patricia Slevin said: "These outstanding results reflect the ability and commitment of these girls each of whom has made a tremendous contribution to the College."
And the languages department of Carrickfergus Grammar School celebrated the success of pupils Naomi Deering and Rachael Davis.
Naomi came top in the UK in AQA Board's GCSE French, coming in the top five of 101,000 while Rachel came top in Spanish. Both girls also achieved 10 A* each.
Another proud owner of 11 A* was Down High pupil Rebecca Orr.
Education minister Caitriona Ruane congratulated all pupils who received their results.
"These excellent results are the product of hard work over many years by our young people and their teachers and parents. "
