UCE 2026: who may register, and what continuous assessment requires

Candidates presenting for the 2026 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) represent the third cohort registering under the competency-based curriculum. According to the UNEB registration notice issued on 1 June 2026, candidates were required to take a minimum of eight subjects and a maximum of nine subjects.

Eligibility for this cycle depended on prior Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) performance and progression time. Under the 1 June 2026 notice, registration was open only to learners who sat the PLE in 2022 or earlier, earned grades 1, 2, 3, or 4 (or an equivalent qualification), and completed four years of lower secondary education. Learners also needed to have their continuous assessment scores across all subjects and their Senior Three project scores submitted to qualify for registration.

Registration for the 2026 examination cycle is now closed. Because schedules and registration windows are strictly time-bound, please verify dates and administrative updates on the live UNEB portal before making future exam arrangements. The closed registration window and the 2026 sitting dates are in the UNEB guide.

Continuous assessment forms an integral part of candidate evaluation under the revised curriculum, though official statements describe its role through two distinct lenses.

In the 1 June 2026 notice, UNEB stated that continuous assessment scores for all subjects offered, along with project scores, are strictly required for certification. The notice advises that once those scores are with UNEB, candidates should not change their names or their optional subjects in Senior Four.

A later statement issued on 23 September 2026 by UNEB Executive Director Dan N. Odongo, published via the Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation, outlined the numerical weighting of these components. In that statement, continuous assessment accounts for 20 percent of a candidate's final achievement, while the final end-of-cycle examination accounts for the remaining 80 percent.

The 23 September 2026 statement noted that national continuous assessment submission stood at 82 percent at that time. It established a final deadline of 30 September 2026 for schools to submit outstanding Term II Senior Four continuous assessment scores, cautioning that learners affected by a failure to submit these specific scores would not be graded. That September deadline has now passed. Candidate briefings were scheduled for Thursday 8 October 2026, and examinations run through Tuesday 3 November 2026, as specified in the September 2026 statement. Always confirm active examination and assessment dates on the official UNEB portal.

The guidelines also define requirements for candidates returning to repeat the cycle. According to the 1 June 2026 UNEB registration notice, repeaters must have complete Senior Three and Senior Four continuous assessment scores submitted for every subject they take, in addition to their project work.

The official notice does not outline separate grading criteria or unique certification rules for repeating candidates beyond this complete submission requirement. To review how the examination calendar progressed and to explore broader details on sitting requirements, read the UNEB guide.