Becky Uba Umenyili
The newly introduced computerised examination system of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) tagged CBT (Computer-Based Test) which organises the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), has since its commencement in 2015, proven to be a more modern and appropriate form for the annual exercise but yet leaves much to the yearnings of affected students and the academia in general.
JAMB introduced CBT to tackle exam malpractice and facilitate prompt release of results. CBT centres are required to have a minimum of 250 desktop computers or laptops with 10 per cent backups in not more than two rooms or halls; provision of an individual cubicle for students with a specific size for conducive participation.
THISDAY spoke to students and stakeholders on the CBT realities.
“This is my second attempt at the JAMB exam. I must state that the first attempt was ok but needs a lot of adjustment,” said Oluokun Oluwatimi, a UTME candidate who lamented the incessant power failure during last year’s examination, leading to distractions and delays.
Miss Happiness Akambi stated that since the JAMB began using CBT for UTME, the government should make CBT centres have separate computer systems reserved only for CBT examinations.
Examiners are accused of not properly instructing the exam candidates on using the computers.
Chidera Umenyili lamented the pitiable state of some students, who did not know that the spreadsheet of the examination on the computer system contains the whole four papers each student is required to write, with many focusing on only one paper in error.
Many students answered only the questions of one paper (unknown to them that other papers were on the same page of the spreadsheet on the computer screen) and clicked the submit button.
The distance to cover to get to a CBT centre is another issue.
Habeeb Ahmed cried foul about the long distance to cover before getting to examination centres from his home.
“You may leave the house early but cannot fly if road traffic is congested and no one wants to arrive at the exam centre panting,” he pointed out.
The post-UTME test is yet another fishbone that gets stuck in the throats of not a few candidates.
“I had a high score in my UTME which should ordinarily make me secure admission, but because of the low score I got in the post-UTME, I was refused admission and had to repeat the JAMB examination,” another candidate, Anita Sunny, explained.
Tertiary institutions organise the post-UTME. The call for it to be scrapped is supported by the assertion that it makes JAMB and admission too rigorous and frustrating to students and even parents and guardians who struggle through the process to get their children and wards admitted for higher learning into the affected institutes.
This is more so when the post-UTME has a combination of subjects unrelated to students’ choice of course.
