NSC results by group of similar schools
How schools in the same quintile and province did in the 2025 National Senior Certificate exams. Figures come from the Department of Basic Education's School Performance Report.
Compare within a table, not between tables. Each table holds schools in the same quintile, because results track a community's resources.
Swipe each table sideways to see every column.
Quintile 1
| Province | Schools | Wrote | Achieved | Pass rate | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|
| Eastern Cape | 236 | 30,904 | 25,562 | 82.7% | 76.0% | 84.4% | 91.8% |
|---|
| Free State | 99 | 10,173 | 8,877 | 87.3% | 83.5% | 89.4% | 93.6% |
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| Gauteng | 77 | 13,618 | 12,224 | 89.8% | 86.0% | 91.0% | 95.7% |
|---|
| KwaZulu-Natal | 471 | 33,369 | 29,766 | 89.2% | 81.8% | 93.1% | 98.2% |
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| Limpopo | 473 | 30,136 | 25,696 | 85.3% | 78.8% | 88.2% | 94.7% |
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| Mpumalanga | 275 | 31,670 | 27,209 | 85.9% | 79.8% | 88.8% | 94.6% |
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| North West | 112 | 8,372 | 7,204 | 86.0% | 78.7% | 87.7% | 95.6% |
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| Northern Cape | 27 | 2,867 | 2,422 | 84.5% | 77.7% | 83.8% | 89.7% |
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| Western Cape | 25 | 4,487 | 3,679 | 82.0% | 75.3% | 82.1% | 89.4% |
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| National | 1,795 | 165,596 | 142,639 | 86.1% | 79.8% | 89.0% | 95.4% |
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Quintile 2
| Province | Schools | Wrote | Achieved | Pass rate | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|
| Eastern Cape | 193 | 19,368 | 16,106 | 83.2% | 75.4% | 85.7% | 93.5% |
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| Free State | 67 | 7,107 | 6,212 | 87.4% | 82.9% | 88.3% | 94.0% |
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| Gauteng | 86 | 17,747 | 15,225 | 85.8% | 79.6% | 85.6% | 92.7% |
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| KwaZulu-Natal | 499 | 42,607 | 38,462 | 90.3% | 85.8% | 92.5% | 97.6% |
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| Limpopo | 512 | 37,721 | 32,475 | 86.1% | 80.0% | 88.5% | 95.0% |
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| Mpumalanga | 149 | 19,146 | 16,373 | 85.5% | 78.6% | 88.8% | 96.0% |
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| North West | 86 | 7,716 | 6,815 | 88.3% | 85.3% | 88.9% | 92.9% |
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| Northern Cape | 22 | 2,028 | 1,736 | 85.6% | 82.8% | 85.5% | 91.0% |
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| Western Cape | 33 | 6,484 | 5,544 | 85.5% | 81.0% | 84.7% | 89.2% |
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| National | 1,647 | 159,924 | 138,948 | 86.9% | 81.7% | 89.2% | 95.4% |
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Quintile 3
| Province | Schools | Wrote | Achieved | Pass rate | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|
| Eastern Cape | 381 | 43,840 | 36,625 | 83.5% | 77.0% | 84.5% | 91.4% |
|---|
| Free State | 84 | 11,991 | 10,720 | 89.4% | 84.4% | 90.3% | 96.0% |
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| Gauteng | 111 | 22,022 | 18,911 | 85.9% | 81.0% | 86.4% | 92.3% |
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| KwaZulu-Natal | 409 | 48,045 | 43,199 | 89.9% | 84.8% | 92.1% | 96.9% |
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| Limpopo | 200 | 23,468 | 19,980 | 85.1% | 79.0% | 86.0% | 92.8% |
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| Mpumalanga | 32 | 4,152 | 3,435 | 82.7% | 75.3% | 84.0% | 93.2% |
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| North West | 145 | 14,654 | 12,840 | 87.6% | 81.7% | 89.9% | 94.2% |
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| Northern Cape | 25 | 3,395 | 2,935 | 86.5% | 83.8% | 86.7% | 92.4% |
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| Western Cape | 72 | 12,277 | 10,351 | 84.3% | 78.3% | 84.9% | 91.5% |
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| National | 1,459 | 183,844 | 158,996 | 86.5% | 80.7% | 88.2% | 94.4% |
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Quintile 4
| Province | Schools | Wrote | Achieved | Pass rate | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|
| Eastern Cape | 45 | 3,957 | 3,557 | 89.9% | 86.7% | 92.6% | 97.2% |
|---|
| Free State | 38 | 3,367 | 3,065 | 91.0% | 88.4% | 94.3% | 97.0% |
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| Gauteng | 152 | 29,657 | 25,323 | 85.4% | 80.7% | 86.4% | 90.7% |
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| KwaZulu-Natal | 159 | 22,996 | 21,128 | 91.9% | 88.7% | 93.4% | 97.4% |
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| Limpopo | 14 | 2,309 | 1,952 | 84.5% | 81.8% | 86.4% | 94.8% |
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| Mpumalanga | 30 | 3,812 | 3,502 | 91.9% | 88.8% | 95.1% | 97.3% |
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| North West | 60 | 7,303 | 6,722 | 92.0% | 86.3% | 92.9% | 97.8% |
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| Northern Cape | 29 | 2,487 | 2,187 | 87.9% | 86.8% | 90.2% | 93.1% |
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| Western Cape | 91 | 13,646 | 11,421 | 83.7% | 77.5% | 85.1% | 91.3% |
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| National | 618 | 89,534 | 78,857 | 88.1% | 83.9% | 90.1% | 95.6% |
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Quintile 5
| Province | Schools | Wrote | Achieved | Pass rate | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|
| Eastern Cape | 40 | 5,119 | 4,875 | 95.2% | 94.4% | 97.5% | 99.1% |
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| Free State | 32 | 3,821 | 3,668 | 96.0% | 93.9% | 99.3% | 100.0% |
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| Gauteng | 217 | 44,260 | 40,997 | 92.6% | 88.4% | 93.8% | 98.3% |
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| KwaZulu-Natal | 148 | 21,656 | 20,313 | 93.8% | 91.4% | 95.2% | 98.3% |
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| Limpopo | 22 | 3,278 | 3,098 | 94.5% | 91.4% | 94.9% | 98.0% |
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| Mpumalanga | 19 | 2,837 | 2,744 | 96.7% | 94.4% | 99.5% | 100.0% |
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| North West | 8 | 1,112 | 1,044 | 93.9% | 89.7% | 95.7% | 98.3% |
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| Northern Cape | 28 | 2,499 | 2,369 | 94.8% | 90.2% | 94.4% | 98.6% |
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| Western Cape | 169 | 26,014 | 24,301 | 93.4% | 88.9% | 95.8% | 99.4% |
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| National | 683 | 110,596 | 103,409 | 93.5% | 90.2% | 95.4% | 98.9% |
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Independent schools
Only independent schools that wrote the NSC appear here. Schools writing the IEB are not in this report, and the two exams are not directly comparable.
| Province | Schools | Wrote | Achieved | Pass rate | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
|---|
| Eastern Cape | 54 | 3,167 | 2,792 | 88.2% | 78.0% | 90.9% | 97.2% |
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| Free State | 24 | 873 | 828 | 94.8% | 92.3% | 98.6% | 100.0% |
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| Gauteng | 231 | 11,694 | 11,078 | 94.7% | 93.5% | 98.6% | 100.0% |
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| KwaZulu-Natal | 58 | 1,968 | 1,789 | 90.9% | 91.8% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
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| Limpopo | 47 | 3,576 | 3,408 | 95.3% | 90.0% | 95.4% | 100.0% |
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| Mpumalanga | 36 | 2,388 | 2,151 | 90.1% | 82.0% | 94.9% | 100.0% |
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| North West | 17 | 699 | 672 | 96.1% | 92.2% | 97.2% | 100.0% |
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| Northern Cape | 5 | 219 | 205 | 93.6% | 89.3% | 97.5% | 100.0% |
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| Western Cape | 67 | 2,817 | 2,658 | 94.4% | 90.0% | 97.7% | 100.0% |
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| National | 539 | 27,401 | 25,581 | 93.4% | 90.4% | 97.1% | 100.0% |
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Download
Download these figures (CSV) Free to use. Please credit SchoolSeek and the Department of Basic Education.
How to read these figures
- A pass rate counts learners who wrote and achieved. It does not count learners who left before Grade 12.
- It does not measure teaching. Schools differ in who they admit and in the support learners have.
- Quartiles leave out schools with fewer than 10 writers, because one learner moves a small school's percentage a long way.
- Quartiles use linear interpolation.
- Quintiles come from the Department's records. A few are disputed.
- We correct a report row only when the school name, the exam centre number or the district show it belongs to another school. Rows that seem to name another school are left out until the Department confirms them. Some other rows print a different name from the official school list; we publish those as the report prints them while we check them.
Read our methodology