UTME Candidates With High Scores Reveal Their Success Secrets

Some high-scoring candidates from the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) have credited their impressive results to hard work, prayer, and focus.

In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria in Ibadan on Thursday, the students, who scored above 340 overall and over 90 in mathematics, reflected on the factors behind their success.

Temiloluwa Afolabi, a 15-year-old aspiring computer engineer from Oritamefa Baptist Model School, Ibadan, said he achieved a score of 98 in mathematics and 363 overall through determination and prayer, emphasizing the importance of vision and staying focused.

“Having the goal in mind and looking at it, believing it will come together; then working towards it is the secret to success,” Afolabi said.

He urged other students to pray and study hard with their goals rigidly registered in their minds.

“If you can’t see it, you can’t get it. That’s one thing I’ve learnt – if you cannot see what you want, you can’t get what you want.

“So, if you have the picture in mind that this is what I want to get, then you have to work towards it,” Afolabi said.

Similarly, 16-year-old Olarenwaju Okubanjo from Christ Ambassadors International College, Ibadan, credited his high score to hard work and prayer.

Okubanjo, who aspires to study Mechanical Engineering at Pan Atlantic University, scored 97 in mathematics and 360 overall.

“I kept working hard, reading my textbooks over and over and over and over again, and then, I just kept doing past questions.

“I also kept praying to God, and it came out good, I’m grateful to God,” Okubanjo said

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Bogotinjetoluwa Ayodeji-Olatuyi credited his success to God, family support, and dedicated teachers.

Ayodeji-Olatuyi, a student at Christ Ambassadors International College, Ibadan, scored 98 in mathematics and 345 overall.

“I did test practice examinations, basically, every day.

“I started working on my score with a plan on how to score higher marks,” he said.

Ayodeji-Olatuyi, who aspires to be an expert in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, enjoined his mates to practice mathematics daily.

“I want to tell other students to plan and develop a daily goal, avoiding excuses that will not make them meet their goals.

“For me, this includes solving mathematical problems every day.

“This is one of the things I do that has helped me in my mathematics,” Ayodeji-Olatuyi said.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board disclosed that only 4,756 of the 1,955,069 candidates, representing 0.24 percent, scored 320 and above in the 2025 UTME.