The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) released the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results on Monday. Out of 1,842,464 candidates, 1,402,490 didn’t score 200 out of 400 marks. This means 78% of candidates who got their results didn’t reach half of the possible marks.
Breaking down the results, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the board’s Registrar, mentioned that 8,401 candidates scored 300 and above, 77,070 scored 250 and above, 439,974 scored 200 and above, and 1,402,490 scored below 200.
Regarding naming the top scorers, Oloyede said that JAMB doesn’t publish the names of best-performing candidates as the UTME is considered a ranking exam. This is because various institutions have different admission criteria, making it hard to determine a single highest scorer.
It is common knowledge that the board has, at various times restated its unwillingness to publish the names of its best-performing candidates, as it considers its UTME as only a ranking examination on account of the other parameters that would constitute what would later be considered the minimum admissible score for candidates seeking admission to tertiary institutions.
“Similarly, because of the different variables adopted by respective institutions, it might be downright impossible to arrive at a single or all-encompassing set of parameters for generating a list of candidates with the highest admissible score as gaining admission remains the ultimate goal. Hence, it might be unrealistic or presumptive to say a particular candidate is the highest scorer given that such a candidate may not even be admitted in the final analysis,” he stated.
However, due to public demand and to avoid issues, the board urged caution when giving awards based on candidates’ claims.
Oloyede also mentioned that the results of 64,624 out of the 1,904,189 candidates who took the exam were withheld for further investigation.
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