With girls outshining boys, Hansika Shukla, Karishma Arora top the CBSE Class XII exams with score of 499

Girls outshone boys in the CBSE Class 12 examinations announced on Thursday, with toppers Hansika Shukla from Ghaziabad and Karishma Arora from Muzaffarnagar scoring 499 out of 500 marks.

Rishikesh's Gaurangi Chawala, Raebareli's Aishwarya and Bhavya from Jind bagged the second rank, scoring 498 out of 500 marks.

"Girls have a pass percentage of 88.70 which is 9 percentage points more than that of boys' 79.40 per cent. Transgenders have a pass percentage of 83.3 per cent," a senior board officials said.

Neeraj Jindal and Mehak Talwar from Delhi are among 18 students to rank third in the exams.

Thiruvananthapuram region recorded the highest pass percentage.

The board's Thiruvananthapuram region has the highest pass percentage at 98.20 followed by Chennai at 92.93 per cent and then Delhi at 91.87 per cent.

The pass percentage in Delhi has improved from last year's 89 per cent.

Foreign schools affiliated to CBSE have also improved their pass percentage from 94.94 to 95.43 per cent.

A total 12.05 lakh candidates had appeared for the examination and an increase of 0.39 per cent in the pass percentage has been registered.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) results have been announced within 28 days of the last date of the examination.

The Class 12 examination began on February 16, earlier than previous years. The results, which is usually announced by the third week of May, is also being announced earlier than scheduled.

Around 13 lakh students appeared for the examination.