UNEB releases 2025 Senior Four exams timetable, warns against examination malpractice

KAMPALA - Candidates for this year's Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) will start their exams on Friday, October 10, 2025, New Vision Online has learnt.

The examination sessions, which will start with briefings of the candidates, will then see students sit, three days later (Monday, October 12), for geography (273/1) in the morning, before winding up the day with biology theory. 

Tuesday, October 14, will see students sit only the physics (535/1) theory exams in the morning.

In a circular published online, the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) cautions against malpractice in or around examination rooms.

"The Chief Invigilator must begin the Morning session at 9.00am and the Afternoon session at 2.00pm. Any deviation from the set time must be explained to the Board in writing. Candidates with Special needs will be allowed 45 extra minutes," the circular issued on September 22, 2025, and signed by executive director Dan Odongo, says.

According to UNEB, breach of irregularity, misconduct or cheating in connection with examinations may lead to disqualification or cancellation of results of a candidate or of all or candidates at involving himself/herself in malpractice in the centre.

Any candidate found to have cheated in the examination may be refused to continue with his/her examination, disqualified, arrested and handed over to the Police. Such a candidate may be barred from sitting any other UNEB examinations.

Cases of malpractice that will lead to disqualification, cancellation of results, arrest of candidates, according to UNEB are:

1. Smuggling of unauthorised material into the examination room.
   
   
2. Copying from one another (collusion), or leaving work exposed so that another candidate can copy from it.
   
   
3. External assistance given by teachers and/or any other persons.
   
   
4. Prior knowledge of examination questions or confidential advance instructions.
   
   
5. Impersonation, i.e hiring somebody else to sit the examination or where another person, rather than the duly registered candidate, sits the examination.
   
   
6. Improper behaviour, e.g, making noise, disobeying supervisors and the invigilators, violent behaviour such as attacking or threatening invigilators, disrupting the examination, etc.
   
   
7. Substitution of examination scripts during or after the examination.
   
   
8. Irregularity, e.g. taking a longer time than that stipulated on the question paper to sit an examination or one candidate using different names
   
   
9. Tearing the answer booklet/script into loose sheets, tearing out any pages of the script or folding the script in any way. Torn scripts will not be marked, and candidates involved may have their results cancelled.
   
   
10. Being in possession of a mobile phone or any other communication gadgets.
    
    
11. Being in possession of any unauthorised materials while in confinement before any practical examination.
    
    
12. Submission of more than one script by a candidate.
    
    
13. Any other cases of malpractice that shall be detected.