* The proportion of Welsh students gaining at least five good GCSEs held steady at 51 per cent this summer, according to statistics released yesterday.
The A*-C pass rate remains unchanged from 2003 but is up from 46 per cent in 1998. The proportion of candidates gaining five or more A*-G passes was also the same as last year, at 85 per cent.
Nearly 38 per cent of the 39,212 pupils taking exams this summer got three good passes in the core subjects of English or Welsh, maths and science.
And at A-level, just over 68 per cent of students achieved two or more AAS-level passes at grades A-C, or the equivalent. The average points score per pupil was 20.4, up from 17.7 in 2001 (an A grade A-level equals 10 points, an E grade two).