The Head of the Nigeria National Office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Dr. Amos Dangut has described the overall conduct of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates as a ‘huge success’ despite logistical and operational challenges.
During a media briefing at WAEC’s national headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, on Monday, Dangut noted that 38.32% of candidates obtained credits and above in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
A total of 1,969,313 candidates sat the examination across 23,554 schools, out of which 754,545 candidates obtained a minimum of five credits including English and Mathematics — a sharp 33.8% drop from the 72.12% recorded in 2024.
Through its X handle on Monday, the examination body advised candidates to access their results online.
‘The West African Examinations Council is pleased to inform candidates who sat WASSCE for school candidates, 2025 that the result has officially been released today, Monday, 4 August, 2025’, WAEC stated.
Candidates are advised to visit the council’s result portal to check their performance.
‘To access the result, log on to http://waecdirect.org’, the statement added.
Dangut attributed the decline in performance largely to the council’s new strategy of serialising objective test papers in core subjects like Mathematics, English, Biology, and Economics.
‘This approach drastically reduced the incidence of collusion and made examination malpractice more difficult.
‘We observed a dip in the performance of objective papers, but essay papers remained consistent with previous years. It’s a strong signal that candidates must rely on their own preparation’, he said.
The examination was held between 24 April and 20 June 2025, with coordination and marking carried out from 3 to 21 July.
WAEC deployed a real-time digital scoring system during the marking phase to ensure faster and more accurate result processing.
Of the total candidates, 1,517,517 (77.06%) had their results fully released, while 451,796 (22.94%) had some subjects still being processed due to technical issues, which Dangut assured would be resolved in a few days.
On examination malpractice, 192,089 results, representing 9.75% of total candidates, are being withheld for various offences, including the use of banned mobile phones and collusion. This marks a slight improvement from the 11.92% withheld in 2024.
WAEC warned rogue website operators and some compromised supervisors to desist from aiding examination fraud.
‘These unscrupulous elements have become a thorn in the council’s flesh. Some even use our name to distribute fake messages. We’ve apprehended some of them, and appropriate sanctions will be applied’, Dangut said.
He also announced that states owing WAEC would not have access to the results of their sponsored candidates until their debts are settled.
The council noted that 12,178 candidates with special needs registered for the examination.
Among them, 112 were visually impaired, 615 had hearing challenges, 52 were spastic or mentally challenged, and 37 had physical disabilities. All were provided with adequate support.
In terms of gender distribution, 976,787 were male (49.60%) while 992,526 were female (50.40%).
Among the candidates who obtained five credits including English and Mathematics, females slightly outperformed males: 407,353 (53.99%) of the successful candidates were female.
The 2025 WASSCE for school candidates marked the beginning of WAEC’s transition to Computer-Based Testing. Candidates were allowed to choose between the traditional paper-and-pencil format or a CBT version.
‘This year’s examination placed us as a foremost examining body to have conducted an achievement test using a computer-based format’, Dangut noted.
He said that WAEC was preparing to fully digitise the exam process for school candidates by 2026, following a similar pattern adopted in the ongoing CB-WASSCE for private candidates Second Series.
