UNEB UACE Results 2024: Grading Explained & How to Check Yours

The Ministry of Education and Sports has released UNEB’s 2024 UACE results, and the statistics are astronomical. Overall improvement, girls outshining the boys, and—oh, the drama! If you’re one of those students who has been on edge, refreshing the UNEB portal like your life depends on it (and it probably does!), experiencing “mini heart failures” when the return messages fail to come, we are here to break it all down for you. Let’s talk about the long wait, the network frustrations, and most importantly, the UACE results 2024.

How to Check Your Results (If You Haven’t Yet)
If you’re still battling network issues or just haven’t gotten around to checking, here’s how you can access your results, via the different ways available:

Via SMS
Open your phone’s messaging app, (not WhatsApp but the SMS one).

Type UACE [space] Index Number (e.g., UACE 000000/001).

Send it to 6600.

You’ll receive your results instantly (assuming the network cooperates!).

Online via the UNEB Portal
Visit the official UNEB website.

Navigate to the results section and enter your index number.

Through Your School
Results have been sent to schools, so you can pick up your official statement there, although many find this a less savoury experience due to the show of face involved.

Understanding UACE Grading and Points System
In the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) system, performance is measured using a point-based grading system where each subject is graded on a scale of A to F, with A being the highest score and F indicating failure.

UACE Grading Scale
The UACE uses a seven-point grading system:

A = 6 points

B = 5 points

C = 4 points

D = 3 points

E = 2 points

O = 1 point (Subsidiary pass for subjects taken at the principal level)

F = 0 points (Fail)

What These Grades Mean
Grades A to E are considered passes at the principal level (Principal Passes), with A being the highest and E the lowest.

O is a subsidiary pass, meaning the student didn’t perform at the principal level but still managed to score at a basic level.

F means the candidate did not meet the minimum requirements to pass the subject.

Understanding Your UACE 2024 Results
Each grade in the UACE grading system represents a different level of performance and opportunity, much like in the new curriculum covered in the UCE Grading System Explained. Here’s what they generally mean:

A (6 points): Outstanding performance, opening doors to top university courses and scholarships.

B (5 points): A strong score, providing good options for further education.

C (4 points): Above-average performance, suitable for many university courses.

D (3 points): A fair performance, though some competitive programs may require higher scores.

E (2 points): A basic pass, indicating minimal competence in the subject.

O (1 point): A subsidiary pass, meaning the subject was not passed at the principal level.

F (0 points): A fail indicating, the subject requirements were not met.

Also read; UACE Grading System 2024 Explained: How to Calculate & UACE results

That said, regardless of your score, there are always opportunities to build on your education and pursue your goals—after all, we all find success in different avenues in this life.

The Long Wait: Stress, Anxiety, and Overthinking
For weeks, UACE candidates, or as we now say “vaccists” have been in a state of “limbo”—dodging nosy relatives who won’t stop asking, “So, when are your results coming out?” and over-analysing how they did in that one tricky Economics paper, it’s been pure psychological warfare, I know this, I had my fair share of results’ stress and anxiety back in the day. And when UNEB finally announced that results would be released, it was game on—only for many students to face the ultimate test of patience and emotional fortitude: network overload. Just imagine typing in your index number, only to be met with a results message that never actually comes.

Network Woes: The Struggle to Access UACE 2024 Results
If you tried checking your results the moment they were released, chances are you were met with a never-ending loading screen or the “service unavailable” message, which in my opinion is even worse. Thousands of candidates overloaded the UNEB system at once, and let’s simply say, technology did what technology does best—crash under pressure.

Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook were instantly updating with frustrated students sharing their frustration. Some even joked that checking UNEB results in Uganda should be declared an Olympic sport—one requiring patience, strategy, and a solid internet connection. I don’t blame this on Uganda though, these issues are pretty standard considering the number of students querying their results all at once.

Pro Tip: Always wait a couple of hours for the excitement to die down.

The Numbers: Who Rocked UNEB’s 2024 UACE Exams?
Despite all the hurdles and hustles, the results themselves haven’t been entirely dire—there’s progress and excellence. This year saw a significant increase in candidates, with nearly 142,000 students sitting for UACE—a huge jump from last year’s 110,566. And here’s the juicy part: girls dominated! Guess all that “woman empowerment and inclusivity” is finally paying off in Uganda’s education.

Three Principal Passes: 54,338 candidates (38.3%) managed to secure this, up from 52,630 in 2023.

Two Principal Passes: 37,935 candidates made the cut, a huge leap from last year’s 28,186.

Subsidiary-Level Passes: The percentage of students earning at least a subsidiary pass rose from 8.4% to 12.6%.

Girls Outshining the Boys
Ladies, take a bow! Female candidates outperformed their male counterparts in key areas:

43.7% of girls got three principal passes compared to 34.6% of boys.

71.2% of girls secured at least two principal passes, while the boys trailed at 61.1%.

It seems the girls took “books before boys, because boys bring babies” seriously this time, and it paid off!

Subject Performance: Where Did Students Excel?

General Paper: 81.9% of students passed with grades A – E.

Sciences: A growing interest, especially among girls. Mathematics entries increased from 45,414 to 58,495.

Even students from special institutions made history! All 49 candidates from the Uganda Government Upper Prison passed, proving that education truly transforms lives, in incarceration.

All in all, the 2024 UACE results have come with excitement, surprises, and plenty of memes, social media is never forgiving for things like this. Whether you aced it or feel like repeating might be an option, remember this, exams do not define you.

Sure, they open doors to institutions and scholarships, but as I like to say;

“We all find success in different avenues”

Take it from someone out here in Kampala’s hustle battle—this is just the beginning, and there are many paths to success.

For now, vaccists, breathe. Celebrate. And maybe, just maybe, start thinking about what’s next, there sure is a long way to go.

Congratulations to everyone who sat for UNEB’s 2024 UACE exams!

And if you are privy to sharing your exam result’s stress stories from back in the day, the comment section is forever open.