How to Read Online School Matric Results: Official vs Filtered Pass Rates

An official matric pass rate counts every candidate who wrote; a filtered one counts only learners who met a school's engagement threshold and can run far higher. In Teneo Online School's official 2025 SACAI results, 565 of 698 candidates passed — 80.9% — and 44.4% achieved a bachelor pass.

Every January, online schools announce their matric results — and parents try to compare them. It's harder than it looks, because schools don't all calculate their pass rates the same way. Two schools can both report "85%" and mean very different things. This guide explains how to read matric results properly, using public exam board figures and Teneo's own official results.

Official vs filtered pass rates

An official pass rate is calculated by the exam board: the number of candidates who passed, divided by the number who wrote. Every learner the school entered is counted. It's the same method the Department of Basic Education uses for the national pass rate.

A filtered pass rate is calculated by the school, on a smaller group. Some schools count only learners who met an attendance or engagement threshold — for example, a minimum number of active learning hours — and exclude everyone else before calculating the pass rate.

Why the difference matters: learners who don't engage are, unsurprisingly, the most likely not to pass. Removing them from the calculation raises the pass rate, sometimes by a great deal.

A filtered figure isn't necessarily dishonest. A school is entitled to report how its most engaged learners did, provided it says so clearly. The problem comes when you compare a filtered figure with another school's official one. That's not a like-for-like comparison.

The public benchmarks for 2025

SACAI, the exam board most online schools use, published these figures for 2025:

• 6,168 candidates from 62 institutions wrote

• 73.16% pass rate, up from 73% in 2024

• 51% of passes qualified for degree study

• 94% of candidates were registered through distance-education providers or online schools

The IEB published:

• 17,413 candidates

• 98.31% pass rate

• 89.12% achieved entry to degree study

Sources: SACAI media statement and IEB press release, 12 January 2026.

These are official figures, calculated the same way for every school, so they're the benchmark any school's results should be measured against — like for like, within the same exam board.

How a filtered figure can differ: a worked example

A hypothetical school enters 1,000 learners for matric. 620 pass.

• Official pass rate: 620 ÷ 1,000 = 62%

Now the school excludes the 270 learners who didn't meet its engagement threshold—and almost all of them didn't pass.

• Filtered pass rate: 620 ÷ 730 = 85%

Same learners, same results, 23 points apart. Neither number is invented. But only the first can be compared with another school's official result — and only the first tells a parent what happened to every learner the school took on.

Some online schools publicly report pass rates calculated this way — for example, counting only learners who met required active learning hours. When a school's figure seems high, ask whether it includes every learner it entered for matric.

Teneo's official 2025 SACAI results

Every Teneo figure here is official, calculated on all 698 candidates Teneo entered with SACAI — no learner excluded.

• Candidates who wrote: 698

• Passes: 565 — an 80.9% pass rate, about 8 points above SACAI's overall 73.16%

• Bachelor passes: 310 — 44.4% of candidates

• Diploma passes: 188 — 26.9%

• Higher certificate passes: 67 — 9.6%

• 54.9% of Teneo's passes were bachelor passes, against 51% across all SACAI candidates

And Teneo has open admissions — no entrance test and no selection by marks — so these results come from an unselected intake. Independent actuarial analysis of every Teneo learner from 2023 to 2025 found marks improved by an average of 12% in the first year and 25% by year four. See Teneo's results and the 2025 matric results.

Seven things to check in any school's matric results

1. Who calculated it? An exam board's official figure, or the school's own? Official figures count everyone who wrote.

2. What's the denominator? "85%" means nothing without the number of learners behind it. Ask how many wrote.

3. Was anyone excluded? Ask directly: "Does your pass rate include every learner you entered for matric?" Engagement thresholds, part-time candidates and late joiners are common exclusions.

4. What's the bachelor pass rate? The pass rate tells you how many passed; the bachelor pass rate tells you how many can apply for a degree. For university-bound learners, it's the more useful number.

5. Is the comparison like for like? Compare a SACAI school with SACAI's average and other SACAI schools, and an IEB school with the IEB average. The IEB reported a 98.31% pass rate in 2025, with 89.12% achieving degree entry — but its candidates come largely from independent schools, many with selective admissions.

6. Does the school select its learners? Selective admissions raise results before any teaching happens. A strong result from open admissions means more.

7. Top achievers or the whole cohort? A learner with seven distinctions shows what a school's best learners can do. The cohort figures show what's likely for yours.

What to ask a school about its results

Five questions, worth sending in writing before you enrol:

• "How many of your learners wrote matric last year, and through which exam board?"

• "How many passed, and how many achieved a bachelor pass?"

• "Does your published pass rate include every learner you entered for matric?"

• "If not, who was excluded, and why?"

• "Can I see the same figures for the two years before?"

A school confident in its results will answer all five with numbers. If the answers are a percentage without a denominator, or a list of top achievers, you're looking at highlights rather than results.

Why exam board data is the fairest comparison

Exam boards apply the same rules to every school. SACAI's official figures count every candidate the same way, so they can be compared directly.

Schools' own announcements don't follow a standard. Some report official figures, some report filtered ones, and some report only highlights. None of that is necessarily wrong — but it means the most reliable comparison starts with the exam board's numbers.

Ask any school you're considering for its official exam board figures. A school confident in its results will share them.

One year is one year

A single matric cohort can be stronger or weaker than usual. Look for a school's results across several years, and for whether it publishes the same official figures every year — not only in its best ones.

Look for schools that publish official figures every year on the same basis, so you can compare cohorts over time rather than a single highlight.

What it means for choosing a school

For a learner who will engage fully, a filtered figure may say something about outcomes — but every school's engaged learners do better than its average.

For a parent choosing a school, the official figure is the better guide. It tells you what happened to every learner the school admitted, including those who struggled — which is exactly when a school's support matters most.

Teneo is registered with both SACAI (99304) and the IEB (11489). See Teneo's accreditation, or talk to admissions about the matric year.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an official and a filtered matric pass rate? An official pass rate is calculated by the exam board on every candidate who wrote. A filtered pass rate is calculated by a school on a subset — for example, only learners who met an engagement threshold — and is usually higher.

What was Teneo Online School's 2025 matric pass rate? In Teneo's official 2025 SACAI results, 565 of 698 candidates passed — an 80.9% pass rate — and 44.4% achieved a bachelor pass, about 8 points above SACAI's overall pass rate of 73.16%.

What was SACAI's overall pass rate in 2025? 73.16%, across 6,168 candidates from 62 institutions. 51% of passes qualified for degree study.

How do I compare online schools' matric results? Use the exam board's official figures where possible, check the number of learners who wrote, compare bachelor pass rates as well as pass rates, and compare schools within the same exam board.

Why do some schools report higher pass rates than the exam board? Usually because they've calculated the rate on a smaller group — for example, excluding learners who didn't meet attendance or engagement requirements. Ask the school how its figure was calculated.

Benchmarks from SACAI's media statement and the IEB's press release, 12 January 2026. Teneo figures are its official 2025 SACAI results.