UTME Experience by Godwin

Another candidates shares his JAMB UTME experience.

My center was at Balad CBT Center, Agric Ishawo Lagos State.

Finding the center was not difficult at all as my dad who is already familiar with the place took me there. I arrived at the venue by some minutes to seven and the place was already filled to the brim. Thinking I was already late, I started panicking. But on getting to the venue and seeing the number of people at the gate entrance, I was a little bit relieved. The candidates were cleared to enter the gates while the parents who brought their wards were asked to stay outside the gate. The candidates were divided into two groups which were those for center 1 and the others for center 2. Those In center 2 were taken to another part of the building while those in center 1 remained. We sat for about 30 minutes before the biometric screening began.

There were about five security officials who searched us thoroughly, making sure we did not enter the hall with anything at all. Those with wristwatches, necklaces, bangles, and every other thing of such were asked to take them off. We were only allowed into the hall with pencils (pens weren't allowed), and our exam slips. The exam did not commence at the stated time mostly because we spent most of the time on the biometric screening. Going into the hall, I was able to count about 7-8 CCTV cameras lodged at various corners of the hall. The hall was very spacious with a 200+ holding capacity. We were directed to our seat numbers and we settled down. There were about 5 invigilators in the room. The COVID-19 protocols were not strictly adhered to as there were only face masks and nothing more. No social distancing, spacing, etc.

When everyone was settled, a man came in to address us telling us how to use the seven keys available which were a,b,c,d,p,n,s,r, and y. He also told us how to use the mouse by left-clicking and dragging. He told us we can either use the mouse or the keyboard or both at the same time. The computers were in good working conditions though. There was no complaint of faulty computers during the exam. During the exam, one of the invigilators went around sharing sheets containing spaces where our exam and registration numbers were to be filled. The sheets also contained spaces where we could do some calculations. There was no need to power on the system as it was already powered on when we got there. All we had to do was type in our registration numbers and click login and we were set to go.

For me, I did the Use of English, physics, biology, and chemistry in that order. The use of English comprised 60 questions; 5 from compression passage, 10 from cloze passage, some questions on interpretation, oral English, emphatic stress antonyms, and synonyms, and also questions from the Life Changer novel. The questions revolved around Talle and his escapades. For biology, 40 questions on different topics like evolution, seed germination, mode of nutrition, pollution, ecosystem, etc. For chemistry, 40 questions from topics like carbohydrates, cracking and reforming, mole concepts, volumetric analysis, etc. And for physics, 40 questions also was available on topics like electrolysis, wave, motion, and so many others I cannot recall. I made sure I attempted all the questions, both the ones I knew and the ones I wasn't too sure of both, all the same, I did my best. I was able to use the onscreen calculator very well. Before the exam, I heard rumors from people who had written jamb before that the inbuilt calculator was useless, but now I can testify that it was not useless to me at all. I was able to use it in the aspect of calculations and it did not fail me. None in the hall experienced any technical issues. For me, I finished even before the time was up. When the invigilators say " start" it doesn't matter if u start after 20 mins because when u log in to ur questions the time still says 2 hrs but u have already used 20 mins out of ur time. One boy actually started 20 mins after the invigilators asked us to start. And when his time remained only 20 mins, his system switched off automatically indicating his end of the exam. All things being equal, the exam was a wonderful experience, especially for debutants(first-timers) like me. It was very enjoyable. Even though most people were not able to finish before the allotted time we still had an amazing time.,