Some of the candidates, who sat for the mock test of the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, have commended the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board for the hitch-free conduct of this year’s exercise.
According to the students, the smooth conduct of the mock test was an indication of the improvement expected to attend this year’s conduct of the main UTME scheduled to from March 9 to 17, 2018.
They argued that this year’s conduct of the mock test was a great improvement on last year’s version of the exercise, which was the maiden edition.
The candidates said that the smooth conduct of this year’s mock test had portrayed JAMB as a body that had been reformed to effectively and successfully undertake such a very important national assignment as the UTME.
While monitoring some centres in Abuja during the exercise, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said out of the 258,000 candidates that applied for the 2018 UTME mock test, only 211,000 candidates took part in it.
Some of the candidates, however, applauded JAMB for its smooth conduct of the mock test, saying though it was optional, their participation in the test had helped to them to familiarise themselves with the process and the equipment at the test-run centres , the computers, servers and other backups ahead of the main examination in March.
Our correspondent, who monitored the conduct of the mock test in Lagos, also spoke with students who further applauded the examination body.
A candidate, Adeola Ahmed, who sat for the Mock UTME at a centre in the Agege area of Lagos, said that the JAMB management had changed the “face” of the conduct of the examination since last year held.
She said, the mock test was “programmed to be taken in three sessions- 7.00 a.m., 9.00 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. I took mine at 7.00am, and we were searched by the security officials, followed by the biometric verification by the JAMB officials.
“And we went into the hall. Initially, I was not sure of what I was going to see in the hall, but on getting there, I just ensured I followed instructions. The ease with which we wrote the mock test in my centre was commendable. JAMB has greatly improved in its way and manner of conducting the mock UTME. There were no hitches. I’m also earnestly waiting to see my own result.”
Another candidate, Ebenezer Abayomi, told our correspondent in Abeokuta, Ogun State, that he was happy with the conduct of the exercise and the ease in the system configuration of the examination question pages of this year’s mock UTME.
Abayomi said that unlike last year’s mock test, which he wrote, this time he had become conversant with the guidelines for answering and solving questions with speed.
He expressed hope that he would pass the forthcoming UTME.
Abayomi said, “I was impressed with the smooth way the system worked while the mock test, from the launch of the browser through the entire process, it was interesting.
“I really like my experience today with the entire examination process. Everything worked for the good of the examination and I want to salute JAMB for all the `behind the scene’ efforts in ensuring the smooth conduct of this mock examination. It is obvious I will be writing the main exam without fear of any sort this time.”
Adepeju Olumide, who sat for the mock test in the Shomolu area of Lagos, said that with the simple method adopted by JAMB in conducting its examinations, many candidates would be saved the age-long problem of writing the examination several times before securing admission into tertiary institutions.
Corroborating the candidates’ assessments of the mock UTME, Prof. Job Atteh of the Department of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, commended the innovation introduced and implemented by the JAMB boss in the conduct of the examination.
Atteh expressed delight that this year’s mock was conducted “smoothly” as the students, within few hours, were through with the test without any complaints of power failure or outage.
He, however, noted that the candidates in few of the centres encountered certain challenges, including network failure and power failure as well as institutional challenges such as the one encountered at Obafemi Awolowo University CBT Centre and Nnamdi Azikwe University.
Atteh maintained that running such a system simultaneously and perfectly was not an easy task. “We do not have a situation, where everything is working perfectly in Nigeria here,” he said.
The Director of Entrepreneurship Skills at the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Dr. Ademola Aderogba, also commended the eight keys innovation used by JAMB for the 2018 Mock test.
He also commended the board for making efforts to bring in digitization into this sector of Nigeria’s educational system.
