Overall, the results showed small rises in pass rates at Standard Grade and Higher, although there were variations at individual subject level.

The total number of exams sat fell slightly compared to last year, with the biggest drop in Standard Grades, which are being phased out.

A Dundee City Council education department spokesman said it was hopeful of a “positive” set of results.

City pupils have tended to be among the poorer performers in Scotland, although there have been concerted attempts by schools and education officials to boost attainment.

There have been signs of progress in recent years, although Dundee has yet to show it can improve its position relative to other local authorities.

The education department spokesman said, “We are currently analysing the exam results in detail and early indications suggest the situation is looking positive in Dundee this year. Pupils and teachers worked hard to prepare for these exams. We would like to congratulate the pupils for their achievements and thank families for their support and encouragement.

“The exam results information is being used to help plan for the school year ahead. School staff are available at secondaries this week to give young people advice and support and to discuss their options for the future.”

Perth and Kinross Council believes it has been a good year in the area’s schools.

Pupils sat over 9000 Standard Grades, 1000 Access, almost 4000 Intermediate and over 4500 Higher and Advanced Higher exams.

The local authority’s initial analysis shows that in S4, more have achieved English and Maths at level 3 than in previous years. Those in S5 achieved the strongest Higher results for the past five years.

Councillor Elizabeth Grant, convener of Lifelong Learning Committee, said, “Our pupils should be very proud of their achievements.

“Their hard work, together with the commitment of parents, schools and teachers means once again many of our pupils are celebrating today.”

An Angus Council spokesperson said, “A report will go to the education committee when the appropriate statistics are available. It takes a while for these statistics to be collated. However we expect to have them by the end of September.”

Speaking about the national results, Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop said, “These results clearly demonstrate our young people have high ambitions and are achieving success.”

A spokesman for Scotland’s biggest teaching union, the EIS, said the results represented “another year of great success for Scotland’s pupils and for our education system.”

But Conservative schools spokeswoman Liz Smith was more cautious, saying there were still concerns from employers, colleges and universities that the exam system was not producing what they needed.

She called for “more rigorous” literacy and numeracy testing of P7 pupils to ensure they were moving on to secondary with the right skills. In March it was revealed only 30% of pupils at S2 were reaching a satisfactory standard in maths.