Northern Ireland students have performed well in their A-Level exams, with one-third gaining A-grades compared with a quarter of students achieving the same grade in England and Wales.
The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), which runs the exams, said there were "exceptional performances" in subjects such as mathematics, languages and the sciences.
More than 55 per cent of students who sat mathematics exams achieved an A-grade, and there were strong results in chemistry, biology and physics, the CCEA reported. This contrasts with generally disappointing results in these subjects in the South.
CCEA chief executive Neil Anderson said: "having had a close look at the detail of the results, it is clear that the steady improvements we are seeing across the grades has once again been driven by exceptional performance in subjects such as mathematics, languages and sciences."
A total of 12,500 students took 30,815 A-Level exams, with most of them sitting three subjects. A total of 33.2 per cent achieved A-grades compared with 25.3 per cent in England and Wales.
Girls maintained the gap over boys, performing better in the great majority of the 35-40 subjects that can be taken.
Boys did better in just six subjects: computing, economics, further mathematics, media and film studies, psychology and chemistry.
Such was the level of A-grades achieved that exam boards are considering introducing a new "A-star" grade.
The CCEA denied, however, that there was any "dumbing-down" in the standard of the exams that were set.