The mock exam is also an avenue for JAMB to test all systems in all centres to ensure they are working efficiently for the main exam.
By Eugene Onyeji
Nigerians have expressed anger over the failure of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to conduct a hitch-free mock examination for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The pre-examination test, billed for Thursday, March 30th, was marred by several challenges including shoddy planning and network glitches.
Recall that candidates were asked to indicate their interest to take part in the mock exam during the UTME registration.
The mock examination was earlier scheduled to hold on March 16, but later shifted to March 30th. The exam body said 176,408 candidates indicated interest to sit for the exercise.
Also, no fewer than 1.6 million candidates registered for the 2023 examination at the close of the exercise on February 22.
Read Also: JAMB will not condone exploitation of candidates by CBT centres, says Oloyede
TheNiche went to town to witness how the exam was conducted and the feedback was that exams was not conducted in some CBT centres due to network and some technical hitches.
Many candidates were asked to go home with a promise that they will be contacted for a new date, while some were not able to get their biometrics done. Some computer systems failed and logout candidates at some point and some were able to write after a long wait for network.
A woman at Abule-Egba CBT centre who identified herself as Mrs Uchenna said, “I came since yesterday with my daughter and we lodged in a nearby hotel. We were here as early as 6.00am for the 7am exam, after checking in at 7.30am, they were asked to come out at about 10.30am without writing the exam and asked to wait till 2pm. What is the time now? 3.30pm. They just called them in and I wonder when we will leave here today”.
A man at Ogba CBT centre, Mr. Adebayo said, “Nobody renders services anymore in Nigeria, you can image, collecting money from parents for the children to write mock, after the stress, the transportation, you are telling them to go home and nobody will be held accountable, I weep for this country.”
A man who pleaded anonymity said: “Thank God this is mock, if this kind of thing happens on the exam day, I don’t know what will be the faith of this children, it is shame.”
A woman whose daughter is a student of Queens College, Lagos had this to say: “See, am in a WhatsApp group and almost everybody in the group are complaining of the inability of their child to write the mock exam.”
Some of the candidates we spoke with had these to say;
“This year JAMB software is trash. In my centre we restarted twice because of the software. If you skip a subject like after English you decided to jump to biology, the whole thing will go blank. You will have to input your registration number again and again, network was bad, suddenly everything stopped and we were told is due to network. I spent 3hrs 30minutes for a 2 hours examination.”
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“My centre is at Domino heritage school Ijegun Ikotun by Mojisola Apaini Lagos state. My exam was scheduled by 7am. They started thumb printing by 7:15am. We all went into the hall by 8am. On getting inside, most systems were off, although mine was on. They said we should just input registration number, that we shouldn’t log in yet, which we did. We were in the hall till 10am because I was constantly asking what the time was. They said there is a technical issue from Abuja branch and that we should all go outside the hall and wait. We were all sad because we have been sitting for 2 hours in vain. They rescheduled 2pm. By 2pm, we came and they apologized that no server, that we should all go home. We would be informed about the next exams. I literally didn’t write.”
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“We started the exam around 8:30. Along the line, everyone’s computer went out from the page to a blank page. We were told not to panic, as it later returned and we began from where we stopped. I finished with few minutes left and I must commend the orderliness. It was a nice experience. But I pray not to be sent to a far distance for my Main JAMB examination”.
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The mock exam is not compulsory. The score is not added to the main exam and it is not a requirement to participate in the main exam.
The main purpose of the mock examination is to enable candidates to assess their level of preparation and acquaint themselves with the computer-based test environment.
The mock examination was introduced in 2017 to give all candidates an opportunity to have a hands-on experience with the system, especially for those not conversant with the use of computers.
The mock exam is also an avenue for JAMB to test all systems in all centres to ensure they are working efficiently for the main exam. It also prepares the CBT centres and gives them an insight into how they should handle candidates in the main UTME scheduled to hold between April 29 and May 12, 2023.
Whether JAMB will overcome these huddles before the main examination remains an unanswered question in the minds of many parents.