There have been record pass rates for hundreds of thousands of GCSE students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which were based on teacher assessment.
In England those getting a grade 4 and above was up by 9%, with the number of top grades of 7 and above up by 25%.
In Wales the numbers of pupils getting an A to A* rose by 26% and in Northern Ireland, the number of top grades was up by 5.7% on last year.
Meanwhile half a million B-TEC students are still waiting for their grades to be re-classified.
Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by education editor Branwen Jeffreys.
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