UTME Resit Surprise: 200,000 Candidates Score Above 200 — Massive Improvement Recorded!

Following the technical and human faults that plagued the first exam, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination Board recently organized a retake of the Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME), and no fewer than 200,000 additional students passed the exam with an average score of 200.

According to JAMB’s retake UTME results, which were made public on Sunday, 1,365,479 (70.7%) of the 1.9 million candidates who took the test received a score below 200 on both the first and second attempts.

Concern was raised in the nation after JAMB’s initial results, which were made public on May 9, 2025, showed that more than 1.5 million of the 1.9 million candidates who took the test received scores below 200 out of 400.

After constant pressure, JAMB looked into the mass failure’s cause and found both human and technical flaws in its system.

As a result, 379,000 students in Lagos and the South-East states were given the opportunity to retake the exam.

Many of the candidates who had previously scored below 200 crossed the average threshold this time, according to the results of the retake UTME, which were made public on Sunday.

The number of candidates who received a score below 200 decreased from almost 1.5 million to 1,365,479 following the retake of the UTME, according to JAMB, meaning that roughly 200,000 more students exceeded the average score.

Since the computer-based test format was adopted in 2013, JAMB claims that the new results show an improvement in performance when compared to prior years.

The paper states that 1,931,467 results, or 100% of the applicants who took the test, were made public in 2025.

This number shows a consistent rise in UTME participation over time and exceeds the 1,842,364 results published in 2024.

Comparatively, 5,318 candidates (0.35 percent) received comparable scores in 2023, and 8,401 candidates (0.46 percent) did so in 2024.

According to JAMB, the latest results demonstrate an improvement in performance compared to previous years since the computer-based test format was established in 2013.

According to the report, in 2025, 1,931,467 results—or all applicants who took the test—were released to the public.

This figure surpasses the 1,842,364 results released in 2024 and demonstrates a steady increase in UTME participation over time.

In contrast, 8,401 candidates (0.46 percent) obtained comparable marks in 2024, compared to 5,318 candidates (0.35 percent) in 2023.

According to the research, “565,988 candidates, accounting for 29.3%, scored 200 and above, compared with 439,961 (24%) in 2024 and 355,689 (23.36%) in 2023.”

Notwithstanding these advancements, 1,365,479 (70.7%) of the students received scores below 200 in 2025.

Compared to 76 percent in 2024 and 76.64 percent in 2023, this indicates a minor decline.

There are notable variations in performance from year to year. For instance, just 168,650 candidates (13 percent) received a score of 200 or higher in 2021, compared to 568,847 candidates (34 percent) in 2016.

A pattern of academic development and better familiarity with the CBT system is suggested by the steady rise in the number of top scorers in recent years.

The 2025 results seem to demonstrate the benefits of JAMB’s ongoing attempts to improve its test procedures since the implementation of CBT in 2013.

It is anticipated that JAMB will make additional announcements regarding the ramifications of this year’s results for the university admissions procedure.

According to the PUNCH, JAMB made the results of the retake exam for applicants who were impacted by a technical glitch in the 2025 UTME public.

Remember that on May 9, the 2025 UTME’s preliminary results were made public. On May 14, however, JAMB Registrar Professor Ishaq Oloyede revealed that a technological error had tainted the results of 379,997 candidates from 157 centers in the South-East and Lagos regions.

Affected candidates will have to retake the test, the registrar indicated.

He ascribed the problem to malfunctioning server updates that prevented candidates’ answers from being uploaded correctly during the first three days of the test.

The Board has also issued the results for the 379,775 students who took the rescheduled Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination in the Southeast and some centers in Lagos, as well as the results for the more than 41,000 under-16 candidates.

This was announced by the board in a statement on Sunday.

“The results of the recently held 2025 UTME retake exam for candidates at centers affected by the regrettable occurrence have been made public by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

“This situation is regrettable, but it has also exposed a number of concerning practices by candidates and some school/computer-based test center proprietors that have made examination irregularities worse,” the board stated.

The meeting decided that the withheld results of the minor applicants who performed below the set standards should be made public as part of the healing process, unless litigation is involved. They had previously made an assurance during the registration procedure, understanding that only those who meet the statutory standards would be considered for under-aged special admission; hence, this result does not qualify them for admission.

Since its introduction, the number of applicants who had a score below 200 in the 2025 UTME has decreased from 1.5 million to 1.3 million.