No fewer than 200,000 more candidates crossed the 200 average mark in the Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME) after the recent resit organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination Board (JAMB), following the technical and human errors that marred the original exam.
In the resit UTME results released on Sunday, JAMB noted that the majority of candidates — 1,365,479 (70.7 per cent) out of 1.9 million candidates — scored below 200 after both the original exam and the resit.
In the original results released by JAMB on 9 May 2025, over 1.5 million candidates out of 1.9 million candidates who took the exam had scored below 200 out of the total 400 marks, raising concerns in the country.
Following sustained pressure, JAMB investigated the cause of the mass failure and discovered technical and human errors in its system.
Consequently, it announced a resit exam for 379,000 candidates in Lagos and the South-East states.
The results of the resit UTME were released on Sunday, revealing that a good number of the candidates, who previously scored below 200, crossed the average mark this time.
JAMB indicated that after the resit UTME, the number of candidates who scored below 200 marks shrank from over 1.5 million to 1,365,479, indicating that about 200,000 more candidates crossed the average score.
According to JAMB, the new results reflect an improvement in performance compared with previous years since the adoption of the Computer-Based Test format in 2013.
According to the report, 1,931,467 results were released in 2025, representing 100 per cent of the candidates who sat the examination.
This figure surpasses the 1,842,364 results released in 2024 and indicates a steady increase in UTME participation over the years.
In comparison, 8,401 candidates (0.46 per cent) achieved similar scores in 2024, while 5,318 (0.35 per cent) did so in 2023.
Earlier figures were generally lower, with only 724 candidates (0.06 per cent) scoring 300 and above in 2021, and none in both 2014 and 2013.
In the 250 and above category, 117,373 candidates (6.08 per cent) attained this range in 2025.
This is an increase from 77,070 (4.18 per cent) in 2024 and 56,736 (3.73 per cent) in 2023.
Similarly, ‘565,988 candidates, accounting for 29.3 per cent, scored 200 and above, compared with 439,961 (24 per cent) in 2024 and 355,689 (23.36 per cent) in 2023’, the report said.
Despite these improvements, the majority of candidates — 1,365,479 (70.7 per cent) — scored below 200 in 2025.
This represents a slight decrease from 76 per cent in 2024 and 76.64 per cent in 2023.
A year-by-year comparison reveals significant fluctuations in performance. For example, in 2021, only 168,650 candidates (13 per cent) scored 200 and above, whereas in 2016, 568,847 (34 per cent) achieved this range.
The number of high scorers has steadily increased in recent years, suggesting a trend of academic improvement and greater familiarity with the CBT system.
Since the introduction of CBT in 2013, JAMB has continued to refine its examination processes, and the 2025 results appear to reflect the positive impact of these efforts.
JAMB is expected to issue further statements on the implications of this year’s results for the tertiary admissions process.
