As we are all felicitating and celebrating the end of a year, there are a set of people who are already anticipating the new year as it would be a special one for them academically.
They are called the Jambites.
J.A.M.B – Joint Admissions Matriculation Board is the common name for the examination U.T.M.E – Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, written to gain admission into any Nigerian University, and though it is made to look difficult, it is very much passable with adequate preparation.
In this article, I would be taking you through the steps needed to be taken by every aspirant by the start of the new year for adequate preparation for their forthcoming exam;
1. Know Your Subject Combinations
This is very important.
In Utme, each candidate are assigned four subjects with three of them (use of English is compulsory) dependent on the course you are aspiring to study at the University. For example:
Medicine – Physics, Chemistry, Biology
Engineering – Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics
Law – Government, Literature, Economics/C.R.K
This subjects will make up your U.T.M.E exams.
2. Get your past questions
After getting to know your subject combinations, the next step is for you to get your past questions from previous years and start practicing them. Practice makes perfect. Regular practice of this past questions (especially the recent ones) helps you have an idea of how the questions are structured and you should also time yourself when attempting this questions.
3. Practice online Quizzes/Tests
This is useful as for most people it might be their first online tests. Computer based tests might look easy but they are actually complicated than they seem due to the pressure the timer puts you on or the lack of an opportunity to properly solve questions (for calculation courses) and other factors.
This sites mirror the environment you will be put under during the exams and I also advise aspirants to register for mock – Utme as it is a platform set by Jamb themselves for aspirants to get used to how the Utme exams will be.
4. Know Your Cut-off Mark
Every year Jamb releases a Cut-off Mark which is meant to be the pass mark but do no be deceived. The real Cut-off Mark depends on the university and course of your choice. It is generally accepted that getting above 200 is useful.
There are courses where getting were you have to have high scores for you to be considered for them. Courses like medicine, engineering, and law you have to aim for 300!
This are just my estimates based on past experiences. The real Cut-off marks are released after the post-utme of the school but an idea can be gotten from previous years.
There are other things that you need to do also, like studying the literature text for the exam, getting familiar with recurring questions and so on. If you go through this steps, I believe you are well prepared for the exams. Remember that Utme have been passed by people year in year out and you can also be one of them. I wish you good luck in your forthcoming exams.
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