The pass rate for Highers across Scotland dropped.

The success rate was 74.8%, down by two percentage points from last year.

The pass rate for National 5s however increased by 0.7%, with results for English and maths showing bigger rises at 4.4% and 1.3% respectively.

John Swinney, Education Secretary, said the fall showed the exam system is robust.

READ MORE:

If your results are not what you expected, don't panic

He said: “These are a strong set of results which show a degree of year on year variation expected in a high performing education system with credible assessment.

“I am pleased to see an overall rise in the pass rate for National 5 with increases in passes for Maths and English.

“While three-quarters of Higher candidates gained a pass at A-C, there has been a fall in the overall pass rate. If it only ever went up people would rightly question the robustness of our assessment system.”

Scotland’s biggest teaching union said the results were achieved amid growing pressure on staff and pupils.

Larry Flanagan, EIS General Secretary, said: “It is of great credit to the work of our schools, pupils and teachers that the diet has been successful, at a time when budgets have been declining and workload pressures increasing.

“Pupils, parents and teachers should be extremely proud of these results in terms of volume, variety and the levels of achievement that they evidence. ”