The pass rate for the 2018 November/December Senior School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) for external candidates raised to 62.48 per cent, the National Examinations Council (NECO) announced on Friday.
This is the amount of candidates that passed at least five subjects including English Language and Mathematics.
Acting Registrar of the council, Mr Abubakar Gana in a statement said this represents a 5.69 percent improvement on 2017’s performance which stood at 56.79 percent.
A total of 59,963 candidates registered for the examination and were examined in 28 subjects.
A total of 37,069 candidates representing 62.48 per cent who sat for the exams got five credits and above while 47,031 candidates, representing 79.27 per cent got five credits and above, the council boss explain.
Unlike the June/July exams also conducted by the council for school based candidates, the November exams do not lay emphasis on amount of pass in mathematics and English language as many of them register to make up for various subjects they didn’t pass earlier.
The NECO boss however reveal an increase in the number of candidates apprehended for exams malpractices which shot up from 4,425 in 2017 to 12, 084 in 2018.
He described the trend as a reflection of “the desperation by candidates seeking to cut corners and the determination of the council to apprehend culprits in line with its zero tolerance for examination malpractice.”
Candidates cheated more in Mathematics, English language, Biology and Economics, he explained.
Candidates are expected to log on to the council’s website and click on NECO results to purchase a token that can be used to access their results as against the previous method of result checker cards.