By Solomon Makinde
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has officially released the results of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates.
The announcement was made on Monday via a statement posted on the council’s verified X (formerly Twitter) account. According to the statement, candidates can now check their results online through WAEC’s designated result-checking portal.
“The West African Examinations Council is pleased to inform candidates who sat WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025 that the result has officially been released today, Monday, August 4, 2025,” the notice read.
While releasing the results, WAEC also disclosed a significant decline in overall candidate performance compared to the previous year.
Out of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat the examination across 23,554 secondary schools, only 754,545 candidates (38.32%) earned five credits including English and Mathematics — a stark drop from the 72.12% success rate recorded in 2024.
Speaking during a press conference held at WAEC’s national headquarters in Lagos, Dr. Amos Dangut, the Head of National Office (HNO), attributed the decline to a new anti-malpractice strategy involving serialisation of objective test papers in major subjects such as Mathematics, English Language, Biology, and Economics.
“This initiative drastically curbed exam collusion and forced candidates to rely on individual preparation. We noticed a dip in performance in objective sections, while essay responses remained largely consistent,” Dr. Dangut said.
The 2025 WASSCE ran from April 24 to June 20, with marking and coordination activities taking place from July 3 to July 21. WAEC also implemented real-time digital scoring to improve result processing efficiency.
Out of the total number of candidates, 1,517,517 (77.06%) had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 451,796 candidates (22.94%) are still being finalized due to technical delays. The Council assured that these outstanding results would be released shortly.
WAEC reported that 192,089 results, representing 9.75% of the total, are currently withheld due to various forms of examination malpractice, including the use of mobile phones and collusion during tests. This marks a slight improvement from the 11.92% of results withheld in 2024.
Dr. Dangut confirmed that several perpetrators have been identified and would face disciplinary action. He also warned that some state governments owing WAEC may be temporarily denied access to the results of candidates under their sponsorship until all debts are settled.
This year’s exam saw participation from 12,178 special needs candidates, including 112 visually impaired, 615 hearing impaired, 52 mentally challenged, and 37 physically disabled students. WAEC said all were provided with the required support and accommodations.
Gender statistics showed a near-even split: 976,787 male candidates (49.60%) and 992,526 female candidates (50.40%). However, female candidates outshined their male counterparts in overall performance. Of the 754,545 who passed with five credits including English and Maths, females accounted for 53.99% (407,353), while males made up 46.01% (347,192).
For the first time, WAEC allowed candidates to choose between the traditional paper-based exam format and a computer-based testing (CBT) option. Dr. Dangut noted that this is part of the Council’s broader transition toward full digitisation by 2026.
“With this year’s WASSCE, WAEC has broken new ground by becoming one of the first examining bodies in the region to offer a high-stakes test in a CBT format,” he added.