JAMB Releases 2026 UTME Mop-Up Results, Admission Ranking to Begin

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has published results for candidates who sat the 2026 mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), paving the way for the next stage of this year's university admission process. The announcement came on Tuesday from JAMB's Public Communication Advisor, Fabian Benjamin, who confirmed that candidates can now retrieve their scores through the Board's official result-checking platforms. The mop-up test, held on June 13, 2026, was designed for candidates who missed the main UTME due to technical hitches, biometric verification problems, or other exceptional circumstances beyond their control. With the results now out, JAMB says it will immediately begin ranking candidates, a key step that precedes the release of admission-ready results. Benjamin said printing of results for admission purposes should start before the end of the week. "Following the successful conclusion of the mop-up exercise and the release of the results, the Board will commence the ranking of candidates," Benjamin stated, adding that the printing process would follow shortly after. JAMB also thanked candidates, parents, schools and other stakeholders for their patience throughout both the main exam and the mop-up process. The mop-up exercise itself was first announced on June 12, with JAMB explaining at the time that it would accommodate candidates who had completed biometric verification but couldn't take the main exam, as well as those hit by technical faults or whose results were withdrawn over exam malpractice. Background on the 2026 UTME The main 2026 UTME ran from April 16 to April 25 at accredited Computer-Based Test centres nationwide. JAMB had earlier released 632,752 results from the April 16 sitting, followed by a further 1,264,940 results covering the April 17 and 18 sittings — bringing the combined total from the exam's first three days to 1,897,692. For this year's admissions, JAMB kept its usual cut-off marks in place: a minimum of 150 for universities and Colleges of Nursing Sciences, and 100 for polytechnics. The minimum admission age also remains unchanged at 16. Looking ahead, JAMB confirmed a policy change coming into effect from the 2027 admission cycle: candidates applying to Colleges of Education for education courses, as well as agriculture-related non-engineering programmes, will no longer be required to write the UTME. **Source: JAMB statement via Public Communication Advisor Fabian Benjamin (summarized and rewritten).