Matric: The Eastern Cape was the worst-performing province

The Western Cape was the top province with a pass rate of 82.9 percent — up from 76.1 percent in 2010.

Gauteng was next with a pass rate of 81.1 percent (78.6 percent in 2010), followed by the Northwest Province with a 77.8 percent pass rate (75.7 percent in 2010) and the Free State with a 75.7 pass rate (70.6 percent in 2010).

The Eastern Cape was the worst-performing province with a 58.1 percent pass rate, slightly down on the 58.3 percent achieved in the previous year.

KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape also recorded drops in their pass rates from 70.7 percent and 72.3 percent in 2010 respectively down to 68.1 percent and 68.8 percent.

Mpumalanga, which had in recent years been a poor performer, saw its pass rate jump from 56.8 percent in 2010 to 64.8 percent, while Limpopo's pass rate jumped from 57.9 percent in 2010 to 63.9 percent.

The Western Cape and Gauteng led the provinces with the most candidates obtaining a bachelor's pass with 38.1 and 35.2 percent respectively.

The Eastern Cape and Limpopo were the underperformers with only 15.7 percent and 17.6 percent of candidates obtaining a bachelor's pass.