Tough guidelines for P7, S4 and S6 candidates as UNEB releases final timetables

KAMPALA - The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has issued tough guidelines for all candidates at the primary and secondary levels sitting its examinations.

Among the guidelines, according to the circular, is stopping candidates from leaving the rooms during the examinations and barring them from writing examination answers in pencil.

The exam body urges candidates to ease themselves before entering the exam room to avoid going out during the exams under the pretext of visiting the toilet, and says any answers written in pencil will not be marked. 

"Do not answer more questions than asked for in the rubric. The examiners will not mark the extra questions".

The guidelines were issued on September 22, 2025, ahead of the examinations for P7, S4 and S6 candidates for this year's Uganda Primary Leaving Examination, Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).

The guidelines include: 

1 Ease yourself before entering the examination room. No candidate will be allowed to leave the examination room before the end of the examination time.

2. Be at the examination hall at least 30 minutes before the start of the examination ready to be identified and checked. Any candidate who comes more than 15 minutes late from the start of an examination will not be allowed to sit the examination.

3. Present yourself at the entrance to the examination hall for checking by the chief invigilator/ invigilators. They have been instructed to check you thoroughly, including your pockets, shoes and body.

4. Do not indulge in any form of examination malpractice. Do not smuggle unauthorised materials e.g notes, textbooks, etc, into the examination rooms; do not write on your body, clothes, mathematical sets or calculators.

5. At the start of each examination, make sure you (or student representatives) examine the examination question paper envelope(s) to find out whether it is/ they are intact or already opened. If the envelope(s) is/are opened outside the examination room, then report immediately to the Executive Director UNEB, P O Box 7066, Kampala, E-mail: uneb@uneb.ac.ug; unebsecretariat@gmail.com; Toll-free 0800211077, 0800111427

6. Write your correct name, random and personal numbers and signature on your answer booklets for all the papers you take.

7. These must be the same as on the entry form you filled out at registration. Candidates with differing names in any of their papers will not get results.

8. Sit only the examination papers you have registered for. No results will be issued for papers you have not registered for.

9. Sit the examination only at the centre/school where you have been registered to take it.

10. Do not go out of the examination room immediately at the end of each examination without witnessing the checking and sealing of your scripts.

11. Leave used or unused answer booklet(s) inside the examination room.

12. No separate paper will be provided for rough work.

13. Mobile phones and any other electronic communication devices are not allowed in or around the examination room.

The timetables

According to UNEB, the final examinations will be held starting with UCE on October 10, 2025, with the briefing of candidates and will end on November 10, 2025.

PLE will start on October 31, 2025, with briefing and end on November 4, with Integrated Science in the morning and English language in the afternoon.

UACE will start on November 7, 2025 and end on December 5.