JAMB Confirms Server Error Affected 2025 UTME: Nearly 380,000 Candidates to Retake Exam
Technical glitch hits 157 centres across Lagos and South-East; new exam date set for May 16
In a major update that affects hundreds of thousands of candidates, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has confirmed a critical technical error disrupted the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), forcing a rescheduling for affected students.
The glitch, traced to failed server updates, prevented some computer systems from properly recording answers during the exam’s first three days.
Which Areas Were Affected and How Many Candidates?
According to JAMB, a total of 379,997 candidates across 157 CBT centres were affected. The breakdown is as follows:
- Lagos State: 65 centres | 206,610 candidates
- South-East Zone: 92 centres | 173,387 candidates
The issue stemmed from a technical service provider’s failure to correctly install a critical software update. As a result, some servers failed to save and upload student responses, leading to incomplete data for marking.
How JAMB Is Responding
To address the problem, JAMB has scheduled a make-up UTME exam for all affected candidates starting Friday, 16 May 2025.
Candidates will receive updated exam slips through:
- SMS
- Phone calls
Action Required:
If you wrote your UTME at one of the affected centres, monitor your phone and email regularly. Once notified, reprint your slip and get ready for the rescheduled exam.
What This Means for WAEC Candidates
To avoid a scheduling conflict with the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), JAMB is working closely with WAEC. The goal is to ensure that students taking both exams won’t have to miss either.
The Truth Behind Low 2025 UTME Scores
JAMB released the 2025 UTME results on May 9, and many candidates scored below 200 out of 400. This sparked widespread concern, with some questioning the integrity of the exam.
JAMB explained that the issue partly came from new features designed to improve fairness — such as shuffled answer options. However, in the process of updating the system to support this feature, glitches occurred in servers located in the LAG zone, which covers parts of the South-West, South-East, and Northern regions.
How JAMB Plans to Prevent Future Errors
In response, JAMB launched a full review of its technical systems. The board has engaged independent experts — including psychometricians and computer scientists — to assess the failures and strengthen the platform.
JAMB Registrar Professor Ishaq Oloyede took full responsibility for the issue, stating:
“I hold myself personally responsible, including for the negligence of the service provider. I unreservedly apologise for it.”
He noted that although the board tested its systems before the exams, some server updates were not properly applied — leading to the issue with answer recordings.
What to Do If You’re Affected
If your centre was among those impacted:
- Check your SMS and email frequently.
- Reprint your UTME exam slip as soon as you get the notification.
- Prepare for the new exam date, starting May 16, 2025.
- Stay informed through JAMB’s official website and social media channels.
JAMB has promised that the rescheduled exams will be marked fairly and without clashing with any other national exams.
Stay Updated
Visit JAMB website for updates and access the UTME reprint portal to confirm your new exam details.
You may also like to read: JAMB Admits UTME Score Errors, Promises Investigation and Corrections
