WAEC Officially Releases 2025 WASSCE Results for School Candidates
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has officially released the results of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates.
In a public announcement shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, August 4, WAEC confirmed that candidates who sat for the exams can now check their results online.
“We are happy to inform all candidates who took the 2025 WASSCE for School Candidates that their results have been released today, Monday, August 4,” the statement read.
Candidates are advised to visit WAEC’s official result portal at www.waecdirect.org to check their performance.
Examination Conducted Successfully Despite Challenges
Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos, Dr. Amos Dangut, WAEC’s Head of National Office in Nigeria, described this year’s exam as a major success, even though there were some logistical and technical hurdles.
A total of 1,969,313 students took the exam across 23,554 schools. Out of this number, 754,545 candidates (about 38.32%) passed with at least five credits including English Language and Mathematics. This marks a significant drop from the 72.12% pass rate recorded in 2024.
Dr. Dangut explained that the decline in performance was mostly due to WAEC’s new approach of serialising objective questions in core subjects like Mathematics, English, Biology, and Economics. This change was introduced to reduce cheating.
“We noticed that while essay paper results remained consistent, scores in objective papers dropped. This shows candidates need to be better prepared and depend on their own efforts,” he said.
When and How the Exam Was Conducted
The 2025 WASSCE took place between April 24 and June 20, with marking and coordination from July 3 to 21. WAEC used a real-time digital scoring system during marking to speed up result processing and improve accuracy.
Breakdown of Released and Withheld Results
Out of all the candidates:
1,517,517 candidates (77.06%) had their full results released.
451,796 candidates (22.94%) had some subjects withheld due to technical issues. WAEC promised these would be resolved soon.
Additionally, 192,089 results (9.75%) are being withheld due to examination malpractice such as using banned mobile phones and collusion. This is slightly better than the 11.92% withheld in 2024.
WAEC also warned fake websites and dishonest supervisors to stop aiding in exam fraud. Dr. Dangut confirmed that some have already been caught and will face strict penalties.
State Debts and Special Candidates
WAEC made it clear that states owing the Council will not be able to access the results of the students they sponsored until all debts are cleared.
The exam also included 12,178 candidates with special needs, including:
112 visually impaired
615 with hearing difficulties
52 with mental challenges
37 with physical disabilities
All these students received necessary support during the exam.
Gender Performance and Future Plans
Out of the total number of candidates:
976,787 were male (49.60%)
992,526 were female (50.40%)
Among those who passed with five credits including English and Maths, females performed slightly better, making up 53.99% of the successful candidates.
This year’s exam also marked the beginning of WAEC’s gradual shift toward computer-based testing (CBT). Candidates could choose either the traditional paper format or a CBT version.
“This marks a major step forward as WAEC becomes one of the first exam bodies in the region to offer achievement tests via CBT,” Dangut said.
WAEC plans to fully transition to computer-based testing for school exams by 2026, following the model used in the ongoing CBT-WASSCE for private candidates.