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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
No fewer than 175, 000 candidates, yesterday, participated in the mock examination organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), ahead of the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scheduled to start on May 6.
In 2016, JAMB introduced UTME mock examinations. The aim is to use the opportunity to get candidates acquainted with the Computer Based Test (CBT), neutralise their fears and anxiety, and prepare them better for the examination proper.
The mock examination is also an opportunity for JAMB to test-run its facilities and other innovations that might have been introduced to improve efficiency, effectiveness and credibility of the examination system.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who monitored the exercise in some locations, confirmed that the mock examination held across different CBT centres in the country was successful.
He said: “I did sample inspections in Lagos and Ogun states, and the turnout was impressive. We are satisfied with the level of performance. In the process, a CBT Centre, Brain Point CBT Centre in Oko-Oba, Lagos State, which could not sustain its generator, was automatically delisted. I gave instructions that the candidates in the centre should be refunded their full money.
“We had assured CBT Centres of our support, and that was why we allowed the centres to collect up to N1,000 instead of the earlier N700, so they can continue to give their best to the candidates. Some of the institutions, especially tertiary institutions, need to keep up and maintain their facilities because some of them are substandard.
“But we are happy with the general performance of the examination. In the two states I visited, the centres worked very well. We only urged stakeholders to learn from the mock examination.”
A total of “175,000 candidates sat for the examination. We limited the number because we do not want to do more than one session across the country.”
Meanwhile, a candidate, Sowande Moyinoluwa Hosanna, who sat for the mock examination at the Rosa-Mystica Academy, Kubwa, Abuja, said the mock examination was hitch free for her.
She said: “The JAMB official engaged us first in biometrics, cross-checked our fingerprints with the one they had, and at exactly 8am we filed into the hall. The computer timed us for two hours, which was the period we engaged in writing the examination. I didn’t experience any technical challenges. I must confess that the mock examination boosted my confidence to sit for the main examination.”
