The Central Board of Secondary Education has released the Class 12 examination results. This year’s pass percentage is 1% lower than last year’s, at 82%. Last year’s pass percentage was 83.05%, The Indian Express said.

The 2017 topper is Raksha Gopal (centre right) from Amity International School in Noida. Gopal scored 99.6% in the exams, which is higher than what last year’s topper had got. At second rank is science student Bhumi Sawant from Chandigarh, who got 99.4%. Commerce students Aditya Jain and Mannat Luthra got third rank, having scored 99.2%, Hindustan Times reported. They are also from Chandigarh.

Following the trend over the past couple of years, girls did better than boys again.

The board did moderate results, giving extra marks to students to compensate for errors in the question paper or difficult questions. The CBSE had earlier said though it would abide by the court’s ruling to continue giving “grace marks”, scores would not be “artificially spiked”, as they had decided in April. The board said this might lead to a “slight dip in scores”.

The CBSE’s decision to scrap the marks moderation or “grace marks” policy in April had been taken to the High Court just last week. According to the policy, students attempting tougher questions are given up to 15% extra marks. The court had pulled up the board and reinstated the rule, saying its decision to scrap the policy in the last minute “unfair” and “irresponsible”. The CBSE’s decision would have a “drastic” effect on the students, the High Court bench had added.

The results are out on three websites – cbse.nic.in, cbseresults.nic.in, and results.nic.in.