AS pupils who receive their exam results today experience a gamut of emotions from delight to despair, the over-riding feeling amongst ministers and exam officials is probably one of relief.

The introduction of the new National qualifications, which replaced Standard Grades and Intermediates this summer, ushered in one of the most difficult periods in Scottish education since the bitter fall-out from the 2000 exams crisis, when hundreds of pupils were sent the wrong results.

Confirmation from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) that, at 81.1%, the overall pass rate for National 5 is similar to the equivalent Intermediate 2 qualifications from last year will help diffuse the tension that has dogged their introduction.

It won't just be those at the SQA who will be breathing a little easier. In the year of the independence referendum the stakes could not have been higher for the SNP Government and its education ministers if the new qualifications had been seen to fail pupils.

But it's not quite time to pop open the champagne. Firstly, analysts will be looking closely at the boundaries between the different grades at National 5 to see whether the exams have performed as expected. More importantly, there is also the experience of pupils to take into consideration.

Like it or not, the pupils who sat the first year of the National 5 exams have taken part in an experimental and difficult year where teachers have complained of too much assessment, overwork and confusion about course content.

It still remains to be seen whether the quality of their experience will prepare them adequately for the challenges that lie ahead, such as Highers or the workplace.

There is also the issue of whether the wider aims of the Curriculum for Excellence school reforms to make learning broader and more relevant have been realised, with schools expending all their efforts to ensure the majority of candidates had a successful exam diet.