No fewer than 200,000 additional candidates scored 200 and above in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) after the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) conducted a resit for those affected by technical and human errors during the initial exam.
The results of the rescheduled UTME were released on Sunday, with JAMB confirming that a significant number of the candidates who had initially scored below the 200 mark improved their performance this time around.
JAMB had earlier disclosed on May 9 that over 1.5 million out of the 1.9 million candidates who sat for the 2025 UTME scored below 200, a statistic that triggered nationwide concern and prompted further investigations.
Following sustained public pressure, the examination body launched an inquiry into the mass failure and identified several technical and human lapses, particularly faulty server updates that disrupted the uploading of candidates’ responses during the first three days of the exam.
Consequently, about 379,000 candidates from affected centres in Lagos and the South-East were asked to retake the test.
According to the latest figures, the number of candidates who scored below 200 has now dropped to 1,365,479, meaning approximately 200,000 more candidates crossed the average score mark after the resit. This represents 70.7% of the total 1.9 million candidates, a slight improvement compared to previous years.
“The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has released the results of the recently conducted 2025 UTME resit examination for candidates at centres impacted by the unfortunate incident,” the Board said in a statement.
“While this situation is unfortunate, it has also revealed numerous alarming practices perpetrated by candidates, certain Proprietors of Schools/Computer-Based Test centres, which have exacerbated examination irregularities,” JAMB added.
The Board also noted that it had released results for the 379,775 candidates who sat the rescheduled UTME, along with over 41,000 underaged candidates.
“As part of the healing process, the meeting resolved that the withheld results of the underage candidates (except where litigation is involved) who performed below the established standards be released.
Such result does not, however, qualify them for admission, as they had previously signed an undertaking during the registration process acknowledging that only those who meet the prescribed standards would be considered for under-aged special admission,” JAMB stated.
With the new data, the number of candidates who scored 200 and above now stands at 565,988, up from 439,961 (24%) in 2024 and 355,689 (23.36%) in 2023.
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JAMB also revealed that 117,373 candidates (6.08%) scored 250 and above in 2025, an increase from 77,070 (4.18%) in 2024 and 56,736 (3.73%) in 2023.
The number of candidates who scored 300 and above also improved: 8,401 candidates (0.46%) hit that mark this year, compared to 5,318 (0.35%) in 2023 and just 724 (0.06%) in 2021. No candidate scored 300 or more in 2014 and 2013, the early years of CBT introduction.
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JAMB described the improvement in performance as one of the best since it adopted the Computer-Based Test format in 2013, noting that 1,931,467 results were released in 2025, the highest number yet and a clear indication of growing participation in the exam.
Despite the gains, the Board acknowledged that the majority of candidates still scored below average, though the percentage has reduced slightly from 76% in 2024 and 76.64% in 2023.
In 2021, only 168,650 candidates (13%) scored 200 and above, while 568,847 (34%) reached that threshold in 2016 — further highlighting the fluctuating trend in performance.
JAMB is expected to release more information on how the updated results will affect the 2025 admission process across tertiary institutions in the country.
