The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has updated the results of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, following the discovery of a major grading error. The corrected results now indicate that 62.9% of candidates passed with credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics up from the initially announced 38.32%.
During a press conference in Lagos, Dr. Amos Dangut, WAEC’s Head of National Office, addressed the issue and the Council’s efforts to rectify it.
“Gentlemen of the media, with deep sense of sorrow and regret, I, on behalf of the Registrar to Council, Management and Staff of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, welcome you to this press briefing to announce the reviewed results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, 2025 in Nigeria.”
Recalling the earlier announcement made on August 4, 2025, Dr. Dangut reiterated that 1,969,313 candidates participated in the exam, with a near-even gender split between male and female candidates. Initial figures had shown that 87.24% obtained credit or above in at least five subjects (excluding English and Maths), while only 38.32% achieved the same with English and Maths included.
He explained that a post-exam review revealed discrepancies in the grading of serialised objective papers, particularly in English Language.
“The Council, being an accountable, transparent and credible organisation, further investigated all the serialised papers (Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Economics Objective Papers) and discovered that a serialised code file was wrongly used in the printing of English Language Objective Tests (Paper 3), which resulted in them being scored with the wrong keys.”
Dr. Dangut clarified that only candidates who took the paper-based version of the exam were affected, while those who sat for the test using the computer-based mode had their results processed correctly.
“Consequently, the observable decline in the performance of candidates earlier announced was partly traceable to this absurd situation. The Council sincerely apologises for this imbroglio and deeply regrets the emotional and mental dismay it might have caused the affected candidates and all stakeholders. We have been able to fix the anomaly, and candidates can now access their results on the portal (www.waecdirect.org). At this juncture, may I announce the accurate results obtained by candidates.”
Following the corrections, the number of students who passed with credits in five subjects, including English and Mathematics, rose to 1,239,884 (62.96%). Female candidates made up 53.05% of this figure, while males accounted for 46.95%.
However, despite this adjustment, performance in 2025 still fell short of the 2024 results, which had 72.12% of candidates reaching the same benchmark a drop of 9.16%.
Dr. Dangut urged all candidates to verify their updated results online and apply for their digital certificates:
“Gentlemen of the Media, as the reviewed results of the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025, are being uploaded on the results website, candidates should, after checking the result online, apply for their digital certificate, which will be released forty-eight (48) hours thereafter.”
He added that updated result listings would be dispatched to schools within a short period. WAEC expressed its regret for the confusion and the emotional toll the earlier release may have caused.
“Once again, the management of the West African Examinations Council pleads with all stakeholders to pardon us at this moment. This is very difficult for us to say, but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing. We acknowledge the emotional ordeal that candidates, parents, teachers, school administrators, Ministries of Education, the media and other well-meaning stakeholders must have had to deal with. This is a trying time for us at WAEC; we are doing everything we can to ensure that such dismal situation does not recur.”
The initial announcement had triggered frustration among candidates, especially those who had scored highly in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) but were shocked by low WASSCE English results. WAEC has now committed to improving its processes to prevent similar issues in the future.