The pass rate increased by 10 percentage points (from 72% to 82%). This means 10% more of the total students passed, and that equals 12 more students.
\\(\begin{aligned}
\text{Let total students} &= n
\\
\text{Last year passed} &= 0.72n
\\
\text{This year passed} &= 0.82n
\\
\text{Difference} &= 0.82n - 0.72n = 0.10n = 12
\\
n &= 12 \div 0.10 = 120
\end{aligned}\\)
Final Answer: 120