Northern Ireland A-level candidates have outperformed their equivalents in Britain by scoring a record number of passes.
The delivery of 30,000 exam results was hit by another hoax bomb alert at a Royal Mail sorting office yesterday and many students had to obtain results directly from their school.
The success of A-level entrants has intensified the lobbying by grammar schools for the retention of academic selection as the British government prepares to find an alternative to the 11-plus examination.
Sinn Féin repeated its support for the abolition of selection at age 11. Mr Martin McGuinness abolished the 11-plus in his last act as a minister in the Stormont Executive before suspension was introduced in October 2002.
The DUP called on those students, many from Protestant communities, who are preparing to study outside Northern Ireland, to consider returning to their "homeland" once they had finished third-level education.
The North's Council for the Curriculum Examinations and Assessment was pleased with the A-level pass rate, but was anxious not to sound superior. Mr Gavin Boyd, its chief executive, said: "I'm not saying we are smarter. I'm suggesting very, very strongly we are much better prepared for examinations."
Nearly 98 per cent passed all their exams by scoring a minimum E grade or better. One-third scored grade A, well ahead of the English and Welsh figures.
Some 31.7 per cent of girls achieved grade A and just under 28 per cent of boys did the same.
Girls in Northern Ireland are now 8 per cent ahead of statistics for England and Wales and boys also outperformed their counterparts in Britain.
The Governing Bodies Association, which represents grammar schools, said the results vindicated the importance of an academic ethos in the school system.
A spokesman told The Irish Times that it did not want retention of the 11-plus, but it did want some form of academic selection and the maintenance of grammar schools which had an emphasis on academic rather than vocational education.