WAEC Releases 2026 WASSCE Results
The West African Examinations Council, known as WAEC, has released the results of the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates. The examination is widely called WASSCE for School Candidates.
WAEC announced the release on Wednesday through its official X handle. The announcement ended the long wait for almost two million candidates who sat for the examination across Nigeria. For many students, this result carries years of study, fear, hope and hard work. A few numbers on a screen can now shape the next step in their education.
In its post, the examination body said, “UPDATE: 2026 WASSCE (SC) results have been released. Generate your PIN at http://waec.org and check your results now on http://waecdirect.org.”
The message was short and direct. Candidates can now check the grades they received in each subject, but they must first complete the required process on the WAEC websites.
A total of 1,950,726 candidates sat for the 2026 examination. Out of this number, 1,200,514 candidates earned credits or higher grades in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. This represents 61.54 per cent of all the candidates who took part.
The figure is important because English Language and Mathematics are key subjects in many admission processes. The reported 61.54 per cent did not only earn five credits in any group of subjects. Their five or more credits included both English Language and Mathematics.
Behind the number are more than one million students who reached that mark. There are also many other candidates whose results fall outside this group. Each candidate must therefore check the full result personally instead of trying to judge personal performance from the general figures.
WAEC has provided two main websites for the process. The first website is http://waec.org. Candidates are required to visit this site to generate a Personal Identification Number, known as a PIN, and a serial number.
The PIN and serial number are needed before a candidate can move to the result-checking stage. They serve as important details that allow the WAEC system to process the request and open the correct result.
After generating the PIN and serial number, candidates should proceed to the official result-checking portal at http://waecdirect.org. This is where the actual result can be accessed.
The process generally requires the candidate to enter the examination number. This number must belong to the candidate whose result is being checked. The candidate may also need to provide the National Identification Number, known as NIN, that was used during registration.
Contact details are also part of the general checking process. WAEC may use the details to send a one-time password, commonly called an OTP. The candidate must enter the correct OTP to complete the verification stage and continue.
The order of the process is simple. The candidate first goes to the WAEC website and generates the PIN and serial number. The candidate then visits the WAEC Direct portal, enters the required examination and identity details, and completes the OTP verification. Once the details are accepted, the candidate can view the result.
The examination itself was a huge national exercise. Roughly 1.96 million candidates from more than 24,200 secondary schools across Nigeria took part. The large number shows the size of the work carried out by schools, candidates and the examination body during the period.
The 2026 WASSCE for School Candidates began on April 21, 2026, and ended on June 19, 2026. Candidates wrote papers over a period of almost two months. During that time, schools across the country followed the examination timetable and guided their students through the different subjects.
Most examination centres continued to use the traditional pen-and-paper format. Under this method, candidates received physical question papers and wrote their answers on paper, as candidates have done for many years.
However, computer-based testing, known as CBT, also gained more ground during the 2026 examination. A notably higher number of schools chose the CBT option this year than in earlier examination cycles. This means more candidates completed their papers through a computer-based system, even though pen and paper remained the main method in most centres.
The growth of CBT marks a clear change in how some schools and candidates are taking the examination. Yet the shift was not complete; both methods were still part of the 2026 process.
Before the results were released, WAEC had said candidates should expect them about 45 days after the last paper. The final paper was written on June 19, and candidates then entered another difficult stage: waiting.
That waiting period can feel painfully slow. Students want to know whether they passed. Parents want to see the result of the money, care and support they gave. Schools also want to know how their candidates performed. WAEC’s announcement has now brought that wait to an end.
The release of the School Candidates’ results did not mark WAEC’s first result announcement in 2026. Some months earlier, the Council released the results of the Computer-Based WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2026 First Series.
That earlier result concerned private candidates who took the computer-based First Series examination. The new announcement is for School Candidates who sat for the main 2026 WASSCE through their secondary schools.
Candidates can now move from waiting to knowing. They must generate their PIN and serial number through http://waec.org, then use http://waecdirect.org to check the result. The process requires care; every examination number, NIN, contact detail and OTP must be entered correctly.
For 1,950,726 candidates, the result is no longer a question hanging in the air. It has been released. The joy, pain, relief or fresh determination that follows will be personal to each student; but the long wait is finally over.