JAMB Mock Experience: No Cries, No Laughter

Count down to JAMB UTME is 8 days. Hope you are prepared?

Sharing another JAMB Mock experience with the intention that there will be something we can learn from it.

The JAMB Mock experience by David

A horrible beginning to the day, but thank God I got to sit for the exam and I Iearned something from it.

I live very far from my JAMB Mock examination venue. The CBT Center was located in Owerri while I reside in Orlu and my exam was scheduled to take place by 7 am. As I neither have any friends nor relatives living there and can't arrange where to Lodge in Owerri before the date, we (My mum and I) decided to live early in the morning on the exam date.

So I started preparing by 4 am, I didn't even sleep let alone wake. By 5 am I was ready and wanted to start the travel. We called the driver that was designated to take me and my mom to the exam venue. He came 30 mins after, considering the situation of Orlu, Imo state, insecurity, and the rest. I was already scared of both the darkness and missing the exam. There was and is still insecurity in Eastern Nigeria so early travel is such a risk.

We started going immediately, the journey took more than an hour to get to Owerri and not the place of exam, going through the bad roads, meandering the snake-like roads that army people caused by placing bags of sand by each side of the road of Banana junction Owerri Road. As we traveled further, the road and streets were empty - this heightened my fright.

We arrived at the examination venue by a few minutes past 8 am. I was relieved and felt safe as we arrived at the center. The fear of the insecurity toad has gone, immediately the fear of whether I've missed the exam took over completely. I saw a few people at the entrance to the CBT center, I heaved a sigh of relief, they were still inspecting candidates and collecting payment for the exam. If not for the delay, I would probably have missed the exam. I joined the queue and when it got to my turn, I was inspected like the others and also paid 1,000 which I even forgot about if not for my mom it would have been a different story. After making the payment, I was cleared and I proceeded to the exam hall while mum found a place to wait for me outside. I entered the exam hall, there were lots of systems and CCTV cameras installed at several corners of the hall. We used laptops to take our exams. I found my seat using the seat number on my exam slip. The laptop on my desk didn't have the "M" button on the keyboard but I guess it's of no use in the exam. We either use the mouse or just the N, P, A, B, C, D, and S buttons on the keyboard as explained by one of the invigilators.

We were instructed to enter our Jamb Registration Number. The person to my left couldn't enter his reg number so he called for help, the invigilator first rebuked him by slapping his head then told him that he should have dragged the mouse and clicked on the space provided for the reg number before typing. He later got it right. We logged in and commenced the exam.

The duration of the exam was 2 hours and there were a total of 180 questions. English was 60 and the other 3 subjects (Government, Literature in English, and CRS) had 40 questions each. There was a calculator but I didn't require it as there was nothing to calculate. Some candidates (mostly science students) requested a paper to solve maths questions but I didn't because I am not doing any calculations for the exam.

From then, the process was smooth sailing, with no cries no laughter.

Now I look forward to the UTME proper and hope for an even better experience.

My Reaction

David had a better experience than Samuel from the previous experienced we shared. Aside from the fear of insecurity and missing out on the exam, he arrived at the center in time to start the exam at the same time as the others. From his story, the exam process was hitch-free - no faulty laptops or network failure.

And now to the Slap on the head. The invigilator went too far with his action, it could have just helped the student. Though some candidates can be annoying, there was no need for the slap. Candidates on their part should learn how to use the computer system, be it laptop or desktop. They have just two things to use, the mouse and keyboard. They could make out some time before the exam to familiarize themselves with these two devices, but many won't. Also, the JAMB Mock is an avenue for first-timers to get familiarized with the JAMB exam process, but many won't participate. Without any prior experience handling a mouse or keyboard, they will enter the exam and find it hard to start the exam. And those who are not bold enough to call for help will end up wasting several minutes until luckily an invigilator walks to their seat.

Dear candidates, it won't hurt to learn how to use the computer system before the CBT exams. If you can't afford to pay for CBT training, you can go to friends or relatives who own one or even take advantage of free CBT training organized near you.

JAMB easy, JAMB hard, it all depends on your level of preparedness and calmness during the exam. And probably some luck - one might be unlucky to get faulty system or network failures in the exam center and some unexpected circumstances might delay you from arriving early, this starting late or missing out on the exam.

We pray for good fortune. The ball is in your court.

Good luck.