It was girls who outshone boys, Chennai which outdid the rest of the regions, and school-supported students who did better than private candidates in the Central Board of Secondary Education Class XII examinations, the results of which were declared on Monday.

Girls had a pass percentage of 86.21, against 75.80 scored by boys, almost identical to last year's scores of 86.57 against 76.78. The Chennai region retained its first position with a pass percentage of 90.59, marginally below the 91.32 per cent it scored last year. The second position was retained by Delhi with 85.40 per cent, a small drop from last year's 85.45 per cent. Ajmer came third with 84.28 per cent, retaining its number three position, down from 85.05 per cent last year.

The top three scores were all held by a science student, with Mohammad Ismat from Manipur coming first with 99 per cent. He got 495 out of 500. The second place was held by Ansuman Mohapatra from Bhubaneswar, with 494, followed by Joseph Samuel of Kerala who scored 493.

A new development this year was Allahabad, which took the bottom place with 70.68 per cent, a significant drop from its last year's third-last position at 73 per cent. Guwahati, the bottom scorer with 70.91 per cent last year, inched its way up to the third-last position, with a pass percentage of 72.03.

The pass percentage of institutionally-supported students was 82.51, compared with 38.85 per cent by private candidates. Institution-wise, it was again the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) which led the rest with a pass percentage of 95.96, followed again by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathans (KVS) at 94.13 per cent. The Central School for Tibetans (similar to the JNVs and the KVSs and also affiliated to the CBSE) came third with 90.77 per cent. Like last year, government schools recorded higher pass percentages than private schools, with 83.66. Private schools had a pass percentage of 80.11.

Forty-seven cases of cheating were reported, the same as last year.

Allahabad, which had the lowest pass percentage, topped in this area, leading the rest of the regions with 13 cases, a repetition of its performance last year, with 12 cheating cases, the highest.

Delhi had 10 cheating cases. It had nine cases last year. Ajmer and Patna had eight cases each. For Ajmer, this was significantly more from its last year's two cases. Patna recorded four cases last year, and wasn’t in the top three either.

Bhubaneswar was the only region to report no case, and Panchkula significantly reduced its number from 11 last year — it had come second — to four this year.

A total of 8,15,749 candidates took the examinations held from March 1 to April 16 this year, 5.94 per cent more than last year. However, the pass percentage went down this year, with only 80.17 per cent passing, as against last year's 80.88.