The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) is a Nigerian examination board for tertiary-level institutions. The board conducts an entrance exam called the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for prospective undergraduates into Nigerian schools of higher learning.
If you’re reading this article, there is a high chance that you’re about to complete secondary school and I’m sure you’re already preparing for the three famed sisters – WAEC, JAMB, and NECO. You might be scared, rightly so because these exams hold the key to your elevation in the Nigerian academic sphere.
The main function of JAMB is to ensure students of sufficient intellect are admitted into the university. Consequently, the UTME exam is set to ensure that only smart examinees make it through.
Tips to help prepare for your first UTME
Here are some tips that will help prospective undergraduates prepare for and scale their first-ever UTME exam.
- Make Early Preparations: It’s never too early to begin preparations for what at the time would be the most important exam of your Nigerian academic life. You can make preparations by gathering and sourcing for past questions, finding out details behind registrations, forming a study group with a couple of smart friends to go over old exam questions with, and optionally, registering for online or offline JAMB tutorials.
- Reading for the Exam: The thing with external examinations is that you can hardly anticipate what type of questions to expect. This is where past questions and the JAMB syllabus come in. These materials give an idea of what areas to focus your attention on. Sometimes questions and topics occur many times. There are also tutorial videos online of scholars attempting past questions in theory.
Studying these materials and attempting to solve the questions are helpful but it is not advisable to solely rely on them.
- Writing The Exam: The night before the exam, make sure you have all the materials needed in the exam hall. JAMB may give you a stationary set but come along with yours just in case. On a piece of paper, write out your registration number legibly. After you have been assigned a seat and you are in front of a screen, carefully read the instructions displayed. Answer each question carefully as you might not have enough time to go over each one at the end of the exam.
You have written a lot of exams in the past, so the UTME should not pressure you. Take demo tests, practice using a computer to answer optional questions. Set a study goal for yourself and stick with the timeline. During this study period, try to put away all forms of distractions and concentrate on getting a score above the cutoff mark for the school you want to be admitted into.
If you judiciously follow the steps listed in this article, you are bound to succeed.
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