The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has clarified that only the results from the recent rescheduled Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will be recognized, effectively voiding the earlier scores of affected candidates.
Speaking to The PUNCH on Monday, JAMB’s Public Communication Adviser, Fabian Benjamin, said candidates cannot present results from both exams. “You can’t have two results. One must be withdrawn – that means the old result has been withdrawn,” he stated.
The clarification followed concerns from parents whose children reportedly performed better in the initial exam.
One parent questioned whether her daughter, who scored above 200 in the original test but lower in the resit, could retain the earlier score. JAMB’s response was firm: only the resit scores count.
The board released the resit results on Sunday, after organizing the second round of exams for 379,000 candidates mostly from Lagos and Southeast Nigeria.
This came after widespread reports of technical and human errors during the initial UTME.
According to JAMB, the resit saw improved performance, with over 200,000 more candidates scoring 200 and above, raising the total to 565,988 — or 29.3% of the 1.9 million candidates who sat the UTME. This marked an increase from 24% in 2024 and 23.36% in 2023.
Despite the gains, a majority — 1,365,479 candidates (70.7%) — still scored below 200, slightly better than the earlier figures released on May 9, where over 1.5 million fell below the mark.
The 2025 UTME had a record 1,931,467 candidates — the highest since the Computer-Based Test (CBT) system was introduced in 2013.
Social media reactions showed mixed outcomes.
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While some candidates lamented lower scores, others celebrated dramatic improvements. Educare CEO, Alex Onyia, shared a testimony from one candidate whose score jumped from 155 to 341.
Further breakdown of results showed that 117,373 candidates (6.08%) scored 250 and above in 2025 — an increase from 4.18% in 2024 and 3.73% in 2023. Also, 8,401 candidates (0.46%) scored 300 and above, up from 5,318 in 2023 and 724 in 2021.
JAMB reiterated that the resit results represent a more accurate reflection of candidates’ abilities following corrections to the initial irregularities.
