WASSCE 2025: Just 38.32% Pass Mathematics, English With Five Credits

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced a significant decline in student performance in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, compared to last year.

Out of 1,969,313 students who sat for the exam across 23,554 schools, only 754,545 candidates (38.32%) obtained at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics. This marks a steep 33.8% drop from the 72.12% success rate recorded in 2024.

At a press briefing held on Monday, August 4, 2025, at WAEC’s national headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, the Head of the Nigeria National Office, Dr. Amos Dangut, attributed the decline to the Council’s new strategy of serialising objective test papers in key subjects like English, Mathematics, Biology, and Economics.

“This new measure significantly curtailed collusion and made exam malpractice more difficult,” Dangut explained.

“While we noticed a dip in the scores on objective papers, performance in essay papers remained steady. This clearly shows that students must depend on genuine preparation.”

The examination ran from April 24 to June 20, 2025, with coordination and marking taking place between July 3 and 21. WAEC also introduced a real-time digital scoring system to speed up and improve the accuracy of result processing.

Of the total candidates, 1,517,517 (77.06%) have had their results fully processed and released. However, 451,796 results (22.94%) are still being finalized due to technical issues, which WAEC says will be resolved soon.

Regarding malpractice, 192,089 results (9.75%) have been withheld for offences such as the use of prohibited mobile devices and collusion. This is a slight improvement compared to 2024, when 11.92% of results were withheld.

“These bad actors remain a challenge,” Dangut said. “Some even use WAEC’s name to spread fake information. We’ve apprehended some of them, and appropriate sanctions will follow.”

He also noted that states that owe WAEC will not be able to access the results of their sponsored candidates until all debts are cleared.

A total of 12,178 candidates with special needs registered for the 2025 WASSCE. Among them were 112 visually impaired, 615 with hearing impairments, 52 with mental health challenges, and 37 with physical disabilities. WAEC confirmed that all received the necessary accommodations.

In terms of gender distribution, 976,787 candidates (49.60%) were male, while 992,526 (50.40%) were female. Among those who passed with five credits, including English and mathematics, females outperformed males—407,353 (53.99%) were female, and 347,192 (46.01%) were male.

This year’s examination also marked a notable milestone, as WAEC introduced an optional computer-based test (CBT) format alongside the traditional paper-and-pencil method. This initiative is part of the Council’s broader plan to fully digitize the examination process by 2026.

“With this year’s CBT option, WAEC has positioned itself as a pioneering body in computer-based achievement testing,” said Dangut.

The 2025 WASSCE results were officially released on Monday via WAEC’s official X (formerly Twitter) handle. Candidates can access their results at http://waecdirect.org.