Following a resit conducted in response to widespread technical and human errors, over 200,000 additional candidates have now scored above 200 in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) announced on Sunday, May 25.
The rescheduled exam, held for 379,000 candidates—mainly in Lagos and the South East—came after an internal JAMB investigation uncovered systemic faults that affected the original UTME results. The intervention was prompted by public outcry over the initially poor performance figures released on May 9, which showed over 1.5 million candidates scored below 200.
With the release of updated results, JAMB reported that 1,365,479 candidates—representing 70.7% of the total 1.9 million who sat for the exam—still scored below 200. While this figure remains high, it reflects a marked improvement, with an additional 200,000 candidates now surpassing the 200-mark benchmark compared to earlier statistics.
According to JAMB, the new outcome is one of the most favorable since the introduction of the Computer-Based Test (CBT) format in 2013.
In total, 1,931,467 UTME results were released for 2025, surpassing the 1,842,364 released in 2024 and indicating a steady rise in participation.
Performance Breakdown:
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250 and above: 117,373 candidates (6.08%), up from 77,070 (4.18%) in 2024 and 56,736 (3.73%) in 2023.
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300 and above: 8,401 candidates (0.46%), an increase from 5,318 (0.35%) in 2023 and 724 (0.06%) in 2021. No candidates reached this level in 2013 or 2014.
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200 and above: 565,988 candidates (29.3%), up from 439,961 (24%) in 2024 and 355,689 (23.36%) in 2023.
Despite the improvement, a majority of candidates still scored below 200, though the failure rate has declined slightly from 76% in 2024 and 76.64% in 2023.
Historical data shows wide variation in performance over the years—for example, only 168,650 candidates (13%) scored 200 and above in 2021, compared to 568,847 (34%) in 2016.
JAMB credited the improved performance to ongoing reforms and growing familiarity with the CBT system. The board is expected to release further information on how the updated results will impact the 2025/2026 tertiary admissions process in the coming weeks.
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