GLASGOW school pupils have earned their best exam results yet.

The anxious wait ended for thousands of city youngsters this morning when they received the results of their exams.

And marks were up across the board at all levels in Standard Grade, Higher and Advanced Higher.

Councillor Stephen Curran, Executive Member for Education and Young People, said: "Glasgow's schools have been awarded a super report card today.

"I'm delighted - we made a commitment last year to raise the attainment and aspirations of our young people and today's results prove we are achieving this.

"This year more Glasgow secondary pupils than ever before have gained awards at Standard Grade, Higher and Advanced Higher.

"Pupils and teachers should be very proud of themselves today as their hard work and determination has paid off."

Last year education bosses committed to raising attainment at standard grade credit level - and results are up by 2%.

For the first time, 94% of fourth-year pupils passed five or more standard grades at level 3 or better.

At S4 level the number of young people achieving English and Maths at level 3 or better has improved from 90.6% in 2011 to 93.6%.

Those achieving five or more at level 3 or better has increased from 90.8% in 2011 to 93.6%. And youngsters earning five or more at level 4 or better is up from 71.0% to 72.2% and at credit level, level 5, pupils achieving five or more has also increased from 24.2% to 26.5%.

The results for fifth-year pupils are also good, with those scoring five or more Highers up from 6.5% to 7.5% and three or more Highers up from 16.3% to 17.9%.

In sixth-year, young people earning three or more Highers has risen from 24.3% in 2011 to 25.2% this year.

Those achieving five or more Highers stays the same at 16% and one or more Advance Higher stays at 8%.

Mr Curran added: "I would like to congratulate everyone who has made this achievement possible.

"Today's results show that we are again building on the success of previous years and the council is committed to improving the life chances of every young person in the city.

"Parents should be assured today that the education of their children is in safe hands and I promise we will continue to raise expectations."

Glasgow's success was reflected across Scotland as record numbers passed Highers. Nearly 160,000 students throughout the country were receiving their results today with the pass rate increasing from 75.2% in 2011 to 76.9% in 2012.

The pass rate for Advan-ced Highers rose from 79.3% to 80.1% and for Standard Grades the rate was higher too, increasing by 0.4 percentage points to 98.9%.

But students sat fewer Standard Grade exams this year, with a total of 319,986 completed in 2012 compared to 386,857 four years ago.

Overall, the number of candidates for all exams fell slightly, going from 159,744 in 2011 to 158,908 this year.

Pupils will find out how they have done today, with exam certificates posted out to their homes and 35,084 opted to discover their results by text and e-mail.

Glasgow City Council chief Gordon Matheson said: "These results are a fantastic reflection of the work being done across the city's schools.

"Education is one of the council's priorities and these statistics clearly show we continue to deliver on that."

Dr Janet Brown, chief executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, said: "The increased number of qualifications achieved by candidates not only reflects their hard work and commitment, but also the value they place on qualifications, particularly in this difficult economic climate."

Education Secretary Mike Russell also saluted the students on their results, saying: "I would like to congratulate Scottish pupils on their endeavours in 2012.

"This has been another successful year which is testament to the hard work that pupils have put into their courses.

"Behind today's statistics are thousands of individual young people, each with their own set of results and ambitions for the future. Today is a day to celebrate their achievements."

catriona.stewart@ eveningtimes.co.uk