UTME resit: 200,000 score above 200

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination Board (JAMB) has announced that over 200,000 additional candidates successfully crossed the 200 average mark in the Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME) following a recent resit organized due to technical and human errors that affected the original exam.

In the resit UTME results released on Sunday, JAMB noted that the majority of candidates—1,365,479 (70.7 percent) out of 1.9 million total candidates—still scored below 200 after both the original exam and the resit.

“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.”

The initial UTME results, released by JAMB on May 9, 2025, had shown that over 1.5 million out of 1.9 million candidates scored below 200 marks out of a possible 400, leading to significant national concern. Following sustained pressure, JAMB investigated and discovered technical and human errors within its system. Consequently, a resit exam was announced for 379,000 candidates in Lagos and the South-East states.

The newly released results of the resit UTME reveal a marked improvement in performance compared to previous years since the adoption of the Computer-Based Test (CBT) format in 2013. A total of 1,931,467 results were released for 2025, representing 100 percent of candidates who sat the examination, a figure that surpasses the 1,842,364 results released in 2024.

Breaking down the scores, 565,988 candidates, accounting for 29.3 percent, scored 200 and above in 2025. This is an increase from 439,961 (24 percent) in 2024 and 355,689 (23.36 percent) in 2023.

In the 250 and above category, 117,373 candidates (6.08 percent) achieved this range in 2025, compared to 77,070 (4.18 percent) in 2024 and 56,736 (3.73 percent) in 2023. While the number of high scorers has steadily increased in recent years, suggesting academic improvement and greater familiarity with the CBT system, the majority still scored below 200.

JAMB is expected to issue further statements on the implications of this year’s results for the tertiary admissions process.

Recall that the initial results of the 2025 UTME were released on May 9. On May 14, JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed that the results of 379,997 candidates across 157 centers in the Lagos and South-East zones had been compromised due to a technical glitch.

He attributed the issue to faulty server updates, which hindered the proper upload of candidates’ responses during the first three days of the examination. The registrar confirmed that affected candidates would be required to retake the examination.

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The results of over 41,000 under-16 candidates and the 379,775 candidates who sat the rescheduled UTME in the South-East and some centers in Lagos have also been released by the Board.

 “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,” the board said.”

The Board also stated that as part of a “healing process,” the withheld results of underage candidates (except where litigation is involved) who performed below established standards would be released.

However, such results do not qualify them for admission, as they had previously signed an undertaking during registration acknowledging that only those who meet prescribed standards would be considered for “under-aged special admission.”

With the release of these latest results, the number of candidates who scored less than 200 in the 2025 UTME now stands at 1.3 million, down from the earlier 1.5 million. The number of candidates who scored 200 and above now stands at 565,988.