The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has officially announced the release of results for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates.
In a statement posted via X on Monday, August 4, 2025, WAEC confirmed that all candidates who participated in the exam can now check their results online.
“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 statement read.
Candidates are advised to visit the Council’s result portal at http://waecdirect.org to view their results.
At a press briefing held at WAEC’s national headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, the Head of National Office, Dr. Amos Dangut, described the overall conduct of the examination as a success despite certain logistical and operational hurdles.
According to WAEC, 38.32% of candidates obtained credit passes and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
In total, 1,969,313 candidates sat the examination across 23,554 schools. Out of these, 754,545 candidates secured a minimum of five credits including English and Mathematics, representing a sharp decline from the 72.12% recorded in 2024 to 38.32% in 2025.
Dr. Dangut attributed the drop in performance largely to WAEC’s introduction of serialized objective test papers in core subjects like Mathematics, English, Biology, and Economics.
“This approach drastically reduced the incidence of collusion and made examination malpractice more difficult,” Dangut explained.
“We observed a dip in the performance of objective papers, but essay papers remained consistent with previous years. It’s a strong signal that candidates must rely on their own preparation,” he added.
The 2025 examination was held between April 24 and June 20, with marking coordinated between July 3 and 21. WAEC deployed a real-time digital scoring system to accelerate and improve the accuracy of results processing.
Of the total candidates, 1,517,517 (77.06%) had their results fully released, while 451,796 (22.94%) had some of their subjects still being processed due to technical issues, which WAEC assured would be resolved shortly.
Regarding examination malpractice, 192,089 results (9.75% of total candidates) are being withheld for offenses ranging from collusion to the use of banned mobile phones. This marks an improvement from 11.92% withheld in 2024.
Dr. Dangut also warned fraudulent website operators and compromised supervisors against aiding exam malpractice, describing them as a thorn in the Council’s flesh.
“Some even use our name to distribute fake messages. We’ve apprehended some of them, and appropriate sanctions will be applied,” he stated.
WAEC further noted that state governments with outstanding debts to the Council would not receive results for their sponsored candidates until such debts were cleared.
Additionally, 12,178 candidates with special needs registered for this year’s examination, including 112 visually impaired, 615 with hearing challenges, 52 with mental or spastic conditions, and 37 with physical disabilities. WAEC confirmed that all received adequate support during the exams.
In terms of gender distribution, male candidates accounted for 976,787 (49.60%), while female candidates numbered 992,526 (50.40%). Among those who obtained five credits including English and Mathematics, females slightly outperformed males, representing 53.99% (407,353) of successful candidates, compared to 46.01% (347,192) for males.
This year’s WASSCE also marked the beginning of WAEC’s transition to Computer-Based Testing (CBT), allowing candidates to choose between traditional paper-based or CBT modes.
“This year’s exam placed us as a foremost examining body to have conducted an achievement test using a computer-based format,” Dangut noted.
He further revealed that WAEC aims to fully digitize the examination for school candidates by 2026, mirroring the ongoing Computer-Based WASSCE for private candidates Second Series.
