The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has confirmed that the reporting of candidates’ results for the 2026 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations will remain unchanged from previous years, even as the Board implements adjustments to the examination and assessment processes.
Speaking in a sideline interview with Uganda Radio Network (URN) during a press briefing at which UNEB released the 2026 national examination timetable, Executive Director Dan Odongo explained that the familiar grading structure will be retained.
“We will maintain the way of presenting results as it has been, but the only thing we will add is a description to explain what the A means and the likes, as we have done at Senior Four level,” Odongo said.
Results will continue to be presented using the established categories of A as Principal Pass (Highest), B as Principal Pass, C as Principal Pass, D as Principal Pass, E as Principal Pass (the lowest passing grade at principal level), O as Subsidiary Pass for candidates who achieved a subsidiary pass level but did not qualify for a principal pass, and F for Fail.
He clarified that there are no fundamental changes to the A-level curriculum itself. Instead, the existing curriculum has been aligned to support competence-based education (CBC).
In 2020, the Ministry of Education and Sports rolled out the CBC at lower secondary. When the pioneer cohort progressed to A-level, a fully revised upper secondary curriculum was not yet ready. Authorities therefore adapted the existing syllabus to meet CBC requirements.
As a result, assessment at UACE will also shift toward scenario-based examinations, similar to the approach already used at the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) level.
UNEB has already informed examination centres of the changes. To minimise disruption, the Board has been conducting pre-tests of the new assessment format, following the same preparatory approach used for the UCE transition.
Alongside these adjustments, the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) has streamlined content by merging subjects and removing duplications and overloads. Subjects that previously involved multiple papers have been reduced. For example, History, which once had six papers, will now have only two. Biology, Geography, Physics and Mathematics will similarly be limited to two papers each.
Examination durations have also been adjusted: most theory papers will last three hours, some 2 hours 30 minutes, while the majority of practical papers are timed at 3 hours 15 minutes.
This year’s UACE registration has set a new record. Candidature has risen from 166,400 in 2025 to 203,875 in 2026 — a 22.5 percent increase. The candidates are the pioneers of the revised lower secondary curriculum who entered secondary school in 2020. Their educational journey has been shaped by the disruptions of COVID-19 as well as successive changes in curriculum and assessment.
The continuity in results presentation is intended to ensure clarity and familiarity for students, parents, schools and higher education institutions while the assessment system evolves to better reflect competence-based learning.
However, Odongo noted that following the complete review of the A-level curriculum, expected in 2028, there could be changes to the results reporting format if the new curriculum requires them-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
