No Separate UACE Examination for Repeat Candidates, UNEB Confirms

The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has confirmed that there will be no separate Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examination for repeat candidates this year, despite concerns arising from changes to the A-Level curriculum.

For months, uncertainty surrounded how candidates repeating Senior Six examinations from previous years would be assessed following the introduction of an abridged competency-based A-Level curriculum aligned to the revised lower secondary curriculum.

Many repeat candidates studied under the old UACE curriculum, raising fears that UNEB would have to set a transitional examination similar to the one conducted during the rollout of the new Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) curriculum.

However, UNEB Executive Director Dan Odongo said consultations with the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) established that the content framework of the abridged curriculum remains largely the same as that of the previous curriculum. As a result, all candidates, including repeaters and first-time candidates, will sit the same UACE examination papers this year.

Odongo explained that while some content has been reduced under the abridged curriculum, changes mainly affect the teaching approach and the number of examination papers. He added that continuous assessment has not yet been introduced at the UACE level.

He noted, however, that this year’s examinations will be aligned to the modified assessment format, which emphasises scenario-based tasks.

Odongo made the remarks on Friday while addressing journalists on preparations for the 2026 national examination cycle, whose registration process is already underway.

In 2024, UNEB conducted a special transitional UCE examination to accommodate repeat candidates who had studied under the old lower secondary curriculum and teaching methods following the introduction of the competency-based curriculum.

The issue has attracted significant attention because thousands of candidates who sat the final UACE examinations under the old curriculum either failed or did not attain the grades required for direct university admission.

According to UNEB statistics, 1,891 candidates, representing 1.1 per cent of those who sat the final old-curriculum UACE examinations, failed outright and did not obtain a certificate. Another 51,000 candidates did not qualify for university admission.