JAMB report shows more candidates score above 300 in 2025 UTME

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has disclosed that 17,025 candidates scored 300 and above in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, making up 0.88 per cent of the total 1,931,467 who took part in the exam.

This figure is the highest ever recorded since the Computer-Based Test system was introduced.

As stated in a statistical document obtained on Saturday, this demonstrates a notable rise in performance compared to earlier years since CBT was adopted in 2013.

The report indicated that all 1,931,467 candidates who wrote the 2025 examination had their results released, amounting to 100 per cent.

This total exceeds the 1,842,364 results made available in 2024 and shows a continued upward trend in UTME participation over time.

To compare, 8,401 candidates (0.46 per cent) reached similar scores in 2024, while 5,318 (0.35 per cent) achieved the same in 2023.

Previous statistics were even lower, with only 724 candidates (0.06 per cent) scoring 300 and above in 2021, and zero candidates reaching that mark in both 2014 and 2013.

In the score range of 250 and above, 117,373 candidates (6.08 per cent) achieved this level in 2025.

This marks an increase from 77,070 (4.18 per cent) in 2024 and 56,736 (3.73 per cent) in 2023.

In a similar vein, “565,988 candidates, accounting for 29.3 per cent, scored 200 and above, compared with 439,961 (24 per cent) in 2024 and 355,689 (23.36 per cent) in 2023,” the report said.

Even with these gains, most candidates — 1,365,479 (70.7 per cent) — still scored below 200 in the 2025 examination.

This marks a minor improvement from 76 per cent in 2024 and 76.64 per cent in 2023.

A comparison over the years shows noticeable variations in candidate performance. For instance, in 2021, just 168,650 candidates (13 per cent) scored 200 and above, while in 2016, 568,847 (34 per cent) reached that level.

The rising number of top scorers in recent years indicates a pattern of better academic performance and increasing comfort with the CBT format.

Since CBT was launched in 2013, JAMB has continued to enhance its exam procedures, and the 2025 outcome seems to reflect the benefits of those improvements.

The Board is expected to release more information regarding what this year’s results mean for the process of gaining admission into higher institutions.

JAMB also announced the outcome of the resit examination organized for candidates who were impacted by a technical problem during the 2025 UTME.

It should be recalled that the original results of the 2025 UTME were made public on May 9. But on May 14, JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, stated that the scores of 379,997 candidates from 157 centres in Lagos and the South-East regions were compromised because of a technical fault.

The registrar stated that the affected candidates would need to sit for the exam again.

He explained that the issue was caused by faulty server updates, which disrupted the successful upload of candidate answers during the first three days of the exam.