This is slightly better that the 98.2 per cent pass rate in 2012.
The exams were written by 9 580 full-time and 586 part-time candidates from 185 schools across the country.
All students who passed their IEB exams did well enough to study at a tertiary level. A total of 85 per cent of these have done well enough to study a degree, 12 per cent qualified into a diploma and 1.5 per cent have to option to study at the higher certificate level.
Of the 2103 candidates who wrote advanced programme mathematics, 81 per cent passed.
A total of 555 candidates who wrote advanced programme English achieved a pass rate of 96.2 per cent.
Advanced programme Afrikaans was assessed for the first time in 2013 and all those who participated passed.
A total of 621 additional students wrote the IEB exams in 2013 compared to the previous year.
