For four consecutive years, the list of candidates with the highest scores in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has been dominated by students seeking admission into science-related courses.
An analysis of the top-performing candidates released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) between 2023 and 2026 reveals a striking pattern: Medicine, Engineering, Computer Science, and other STEM-related disciplines continue to produce the country’s highest UTME scorers, while Arts and Commercial students are noticeably absent from the top ranks.
Although the number of candidates on the merit lists varied slightly in some years due to tied scores, the trend remained largely unchanged — not a single Arts or Commercial student featured among the highest scorers.
The pattern has sparked conversations among educators, school administrators, tutorial operators, and education consultants, raising an important question: What happened to Arts and Commercial students?
Are science students naturally more intelligent, or does the trend point to deeper structural issues within Nigeria’s education system?
The Science Bias Begins Early
Many education stakeholders believe the answer lies partly in the way Nigerian society perceives intelligence and academic success.
Mrs. Taiwo Zainab, a teacher at Abesan High School, said science students are often regarded as the brightest learners from an early stage.
According to her, schools and parents frequently reinforce the notion that top-performing students belong in science classes, while others are encouraged toward arts or commercial subjects.
“We believe if a student is not really sound, we tell them to go to the Arts class, while society believes every intelligent student must become a doctor,” she said.
She explained that many parents begin preparing their children for careers in medicine, engineering, and technology from a young age, creating a culture where science students are expected to excel academically.
The result, she noted, is a higher level of concentration, discipline, and academic pressure among science students.
Is It Really About Intelligence?
Not everyone agrees that the absence of Arts students from the top scorers’ list should be interpreted as proof of superior intelligence among science students.
An information technology instructor who spoke with The Nigeria Education News cautioned against drawing broad conclusions from annual merit lists.
According to him, the highest scorers represent only a tiny fraction of the millions of candidates who sit for UTME each year.
“If you want to make a conclusive statement, you would have to study the pattern over a much longer period and across larger datasets,” he said.
He stressed that exceptional students exist across all disciplines, including aspiring lawyers, economists, accountants, communication specialists, and social scientists.
“Brilliance is not exclusive to science students,” he added.
The Demands of Science Education
Some educators argue that the structure of science education itself may contribute to the trend.
The proprietor of JID Academy noted that science students are often required to spend longer hours studying because of the demanding nature of subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Further Mathematics.
“Science subjects generally require more calculations, problem-solving, and intensive preparation,” he said.
According to him, this rigorous academic routine often translates into stronger reading habits and more effective examination preparation.
However, he emphasized that academic excellence is achievable in every discipline.
“Arts and humanities students can also achieve excellent scores with the right mindset, proper guidance, and early preparation,” he said.
He identified consistent practice with past questions, disciplined revision, parental support, and teacher commitment as critical factors behind outstanding UTME performance.
The Pressure of Competitive Courses
For education consultant BOS Consult, admission requirements may also be influencing the trend.
He explained that science-related programmes often attract significantly higher cut-off marks, forcing candidates to aim for exceptionally high UTME scores.
“Looking at the variety of science courses and their highly competitive admission requirements, students naturally prepare harder for the examination,” he said.
While acknowledging that some Arts students may not approach UTME preparation with the same level of intensity, he rejected suggestions that this reflects lower intellectual ability.
“This does not imply that Arts students are not intelligent,” he said.
Drawing from personal experience, he noted that many school leaders, prefects, and top-performing students have historically emerged from Arts classes.
A Question of Motivation
A tutorial operator who has worked extensively with UTME candidates offered another perspective.
According to him, Arts students do record impressive scores, but they often do not appear among the very highest scorers because of differences in motivation and perceived stakes.
“Science students know they are competing for courses with extremely high cut-off marks, so they keep pushing,” he said.
He believes many science candidates develop a stronger sense of urgency because admission into courses such as Medicine and Surgery, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Engineering often depends on near-perfect scores.
Beyond Examination Scores
Education experts warn that the conversation should not be reduced to a competition between Science and Arts students.
The continued dominance of science candidates among top UTME scorers, they argue, highlights broader societal attitudes that often place STEM disciplines above the humanities, social sciences, and commercial fields.
Yet sectors such as law, journalism, public administration, diplomacy, accounting, banking, education, literature, and the creative industries remain essential to national development.
Many of Nigeria’s most influential leaders, legal minds, writers, entrepreneurs, economists, and media professionals emerged from non-science backgrounds.
The Bigger Picture
What the data appears to reveal is not necessarily a difference in intelligence, but a combination of factors including societal expectations, parental influence, admission competition, study culture, educational policies, and career aspirations.
The absence of Arts and Commercial students from JAMB’s top scorers’ lists between 2023 and 2026 raises important questions about how success is defined within Nigeria’s education system.
Are the country’s brightest students naturally gravitating toward science-related careers?
Or has society gradually created an environment where academic excellence is measured largely through science achievement?
Whatever the answer may be, education stakeholders agree on one point: intelligence is not confined to any single discipline.
As Nigeria celebrates its highest-scoring UTME candidates each year, perhaps the conversation should extend beyond who tops the list and focus more on ensuring that students across every field are equally valued, supported, and empowered to excel.
