The National Examinations Council, (NECO), has released the result of the 2018 November/December Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) for external candidates.
The Acting Registrar, NECO, Mr Abubakar Gana, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Friday.
According to Gana, 59,963 candidates registered for the examination and were examined in about 28 subject areas.
He noted that a total of 37,069 candidates representing 62.48 per cent got five credits and above including English, while 47,031 candidates, representing 79.27 per cent got five credits and above, including Mathematics.
While giving further breakdown of the performance of candidates, he said that 57,842 sat for English Language out of which 44,497, representing 76.93 got either distinction or credit.
He added that 57,275 sat for Mathematics, out of which 47,151 representing 82.32 per cent got either distinction or credit.
“A comparative analysis of candidates, who scored five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics for 2017 and 2018 shows 56.79 per cent for 2017 and 62.48 per cent for 2018.
“This represents an increase of 5.69 per cent,” he said.
On irregularities during the exercise, Gana said that there was an upward trend in candidates’ involvement in examinations malpractice as compared to 2017.
According to him, a total of 12,084 candidates were caught cheating as against 4,425 in 2017.
He said the increase in cases of exam malpractice reflects 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.
He noted that candidates cheated more in mathematics, English language, Biology and Economics subject areas because those subjects seem to pose problems for candidates.
Gana, however, enjoined candidates to note that result checker cards would no longer be used to check results.
He urged all the candidates that participated in the examination to log on to the council’s website-www.neco.gov.ng and click on NECO results to purchase a token that could be used to access their results.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the November/December SSCE is usually conducted for external candidates unlike the June/July SSCE, which is mainly conducted for school based candidates.
