8 Steps To Prepare Yourself Adequately For The 2023 JAMB UTME

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Examinations for candidates seeking admission into the university have since posed serious challenges to some students. JAMB has gradually become one of the most feared name in the education sector of Nigeria and preparing for the examination is something that demands a lot of time, commitment, discipline, and hard work.

There’s hardly anyone who performs outstandingly in JAMB or in any other thing worthwhile without putting together these three things. This excludes those that choose to engage in examination malpractice. As for actions like exam malpractice, these are usually regretted in a thousand and one ways in the future. At the end of the day, it pays greatly to work hard and reap the results of your labour.

Let us discuss eight straight-forward steps you can take to prepare yourself adequately for JAMB. As easy to mention as these steps are, in reality, the simplicity ends there. In practice, they are actually difficult but are very practical steps that every outstanding student has practiced in the past on their way to overcome JAMB. In fact, these preparatory steps are all you need to smash JAMB. So, let’s dive in!

Step 1: Ensure you know the JAMB score you need and decide on the score you want.

You must make sure you find out the average score you need in JAMB with your subject combination to nail your desired course in the institution you want.

This average score can be deduced from the minimum normal cut-off mark for JAMB that will qualify your for post-UTME for that course and in the institution. This desired score must also take into account the departmental cut-off marks set by the institution that will qualify you for admission by merit. As you read this now, make your research and write that average score down. This will help you know the minimum mark you should work towards.

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After you must have done that, the next thing is to decide on that score you want. The score you want should be different from what you need to gain admission, actually it should be higher. The problem for many students is that they don’t even know the score they need talk less of the score they should want to work towards while preparing for JAMB. This is where they fail the number one rule of high-level achievement which is first setting a clear goal.

These students after writing JAMB then begin to make their research after which they now start praying to God to give them that score. God does not bless those kinds of efforts. Some students still do not even find out the needed score or cut-off mark until their result is out. It is understandable that sometimes JAMB and various schools change their cut-off marks perhaps, depending on the general performance of students but you can always make a safe assumption to work with from previous cut-off marks.

Setting a higher target is a principle in line with the saying that goes: “you should shoot for the stars, for you never know, you may land on the moon”. When you set a high and reasonable target (what we mean by reasonable is achievable; some students set targets of ‘398’ which is quite unreasonable), you’ll push yourself hard enough towards that target.

A target above 300 is high enough to spur you to action. Once you have fixed your target score, distribute it to your four subjects according to your strengths. See an example below:

My Target Score For JAMB: 315

Use of English: 75

Mathematics: 80

Physics: 85

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Chemistry: 75

Step 2: Create a study plan and reading time table.

It is one thing to set a target and it’s another thing to map out a plan to implement and reach it. I will get 315 in JAMB is easier said than done. A study plan is therefore an organized schedule that a student creates that outlines study time and learning goals. Creating a study plan and a reading time table not only helps you become more organized, but it holds you accountable for your own learning outcomes and the achievement of your goal or target.

Every student will develop a different study plan; there is no correct study plan for everyone. When creating your personalized study plan, you will need to do some self-evaluation of your current schedule and time management. Find days when you have fewer personal commitments when you can squeeze more study time – while doing this, remember that you need to put in as much time as you desire to see results.

Step 3: Start your reading now.

If you’re in SS 1 or 2 and you are reading this article now, then you are very fortunate. It is very advisable that you create a plan, even if it is thirty minutes daily for JAMB and start as soon as possible. If you do this and follow through, you will be smiling when others are breaking their heads trying to prepare months to the exam.

If you are months away from the exam, don’t panic because you still have a very good chance. However, you must begin now to study with a working plan as we have described in step two. If you have just few weeks left, then what you need to do is to start this very moment to focus on going through as many credible past questions as you can and revise your exam-focus textbooks. The bottom-line here is to start this very moment. Don’t procrastinate!

Step 4: Go through at least ten recent years of past questions to get patterns.

To study effectively, you need to know the patterns used by JAMB to set questions. First and foremost, we all know that JAMB questions are usually objective and the way you read for objective type questions is not the same way you read for theory or subjective type.

Even though it’s easier to prepare for objective than the others because you can always easily infer the answer from the given options, you still need to know the common patterns they use to set their questions. For instance, if for the past ten or so years, they have set more of questions involving calculation than theory in a subject like Physics or Chemistry, this will give you a clue as to where more of your focus should be.

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From some computer analysis of past questions, it has been discovered that in Mathematics, questions on geometry, trigonometry, statistics, matrices and differentiation occur more often. Also in English Language, questions on lexis and structure top the list. In Chemistry, questions on organic compounds tend to always top the list. More popular topics like this can be figured out for other subjects when you study the past questions.

Step 5: Use exam focus textbooks to study according to the syllabus.

This step is also very important to take note of because so many students study haphazardly. Some students give excuses such as: “JAMB syllabus is just too big, I’m not sure they set everything”, but that’s a big lie. Every exam has a focus; there are always things the examiners expect and assume that if you know, then you must know some other things related to it. For instance, if you know how to cook stew, then you must at least know what tomatoes, pepper and other such ingredients are.

An examiner then just needs to ask you to describe how stew is cooked and he has asked a number of questions all together in one. After all, it’s just forty questions they set per subject apart from English language where they set sixty questions. Using exam focus textbooks (there are a lot of good ones) study with your results from the research on the patterns they have used in past questions according to the JAMB syllabus. That is the rule in one sentence.

Step 6: Solve at least twenty years of past questions yourself at least twice.

Of course, this will require time but if you can do this after studying according their syllabus even more than twice, you will not regret it. Remember, as has been said earlier, your study plan all depends on how much time you have left to the examination day and how much time you are willing to give on each of those remaining days to adequate study. JAMB has been conducting this examination since the 1970s and they should have run out of questions by now; all they can mostly do is to keep rearranging and slightly modifying past questions to make them look new.

The problem with many candidates is that they study about five recent years of past questions and they are satisfied. You hold the key to success in your own hands. Use a credible past questions for this and try to do your research using your textbooks on the questions you are not sure about. Always try to make sure you understand the answers to the questions.

Step 7: Practice at least one timed test daily two weeks to the exam.

What we mean by a timed test is a test that is to the real JAMB exam in which you will give yourself the amount of time JAMB usually gives or less if you want to work on your speed. At least two weeks to the exam (if possible more than that), begin practicing these timed CBT tests after which you will see your score and assess your performance. This is where a JAMB CBT practice platform or application will be helpful. This will help you work on your speed and accuracy before the real exam situation arrives.

Pick a previous year and solve the JAMB past questions for that year for your four subjects based on your JAMB subject combination (or you can mix different years) according to a time limit similar to the two hours JAMB gives in the real exam. It should be preferably years you have not gone through in step 6.

Step 8: Mentally write the exam before the main exam.

Many people usually do not like this kind of steps especially if they are very practical people because it sound weird and fairy-tale-like. But playing the scene of the exam in your mind, seeing yourself going into the exam center confident and well-prepared as well as seeing yourself coming out happy and satisfied with how well you answered the questions helps you develop confidence and deal with tension as the exams approach.

On each occasion you do this, the best method is to find a quiet place, preferably a place you can stay in a lying position without sleeping of. Close your eyes and begin to act the whole experience the way you want on the exam day from entering the exam center to collecting the papers, writing the exams and leaving the center after the exams. Play it in your mind while taking slow deep breaths until you begin to feel calm. This is an optional step as it is purely for the psychological benefits of prepping your mind to calmly handle the exam when it eventually arrives.