From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
All seems set for the commencement of 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that is conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
As, perhaps, may be known by all, the UTME is an examination conducted annually by JAMB for students that are interested in gaining admissions into tertiary institutions.
This year, over 1.9 million candidates successfully registered and will participate in the annual examination which will commence on Friday Friday, 19th April, 2024, and will run till Monday, 29th April, 2024.
On 11th April, 2024, JAMB announced that notification slip is ready for printing, asking all candidates to quickly print their notification slip from the approve JAMB website, alerting the candidates of activities of scammers in the digital space misleading and defrauding candidates.
JAMB informed that the notification slip is a document that contain candidate’s date, venue and time of their examination, giving the candidates the opportunity to get acquainted with the examination location and other details.
However, the notification slip is not all the candidate require to have a hitch-free UTME examination. There are other written and unwritten requirements that a candidate must know or get acquainted with to have a successful UTME experience.
VISIT ASSIGNED CBT CENTRE
Candidates must note that the reason for early release of notification slip was for candidates to know the details of their examination, particularly the date, time, centre, and other releases information that would be useful to the candidates.
It’s expected that any candidate that will participate in the 2024 UTME would have, by now, printed the notification slip which contain detailed information of the candidate that will participate in the UTME.
After that, candidates are expected/or often advised to visit the location of the Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre to get themselves acquainted with the location and other things relevant for successful participation in the examination on their assigned date and time.
ARRIVE EARLY
It’s important that candidates arrive early at their assigned CBT centre. This will give them the opportunity to relax and be in the right state of mind before the commencement of examination. Not arriving early can create tension and anxiety for the candidate, and that could affect him or her, mentally, and as a result, affect his or her performance in the examination.
Parents should support their children in this regard, by allowing them to go to bed early, wake early and prepare for the day, so they can arrive their respective centres on time.
COMPULSORY BIOMETRICS
Remember that biometric verification is a prerequisite for access into the examination hall. Every candidate must pass through the biometric verification before access is granted.
The biometric verification was introduced by JAMB some years ago in response to the growing issue of impersonation during the examination.
With this knowledge, candidates are expected to avoid things that would affect their fingers, which could affect their easy verification.
Candidates should endeavour to sanitize their hand and fingers so they can have easy biometric verification. Remember that delayed biometric verification of a particular or group of candidates cannot stop the examination or delay starting. It will rather affect the candidates state of mind, thus triggering unnecessary anxiety and fear.
AVOID PROHIBITED ITEMS
JAMB has repeatedly informed candidates that certain items are not allowed in within and around the examination hall. These includes; phones, smart wrist watches, eye glasses, and several other items as may be listed by JAMB.
Please note that being in possession of any of the prohibited items could result in automatic disqualification. So save yourself the embarrassment and keep such items away. There might be no opportunity for explanation. So beware and be warned.
KNOW THE KEYPAD
Candidates, by now, should know that being a computer-based testing system, the questions are supplied by the computer and answers are expected to be provided by the candidates via the same mode.
What it means is that the candidates must get themselves acquainted with the keypads and which one does what. Participating in mock-UTME helps those first timers in mastering the system.
The examination is objective based, hence the candidates are expected to supply the answers as provided in the options.
LEARN FROM MOCK MISTAKE
Few weeks ago, JAMB conducted mock-UTME for some hundreds of candidates who had indicated interest during registration to participate in the mock-UTME.
The mock-UTME was designed to expose candidates, especially first timers, to CBT testing system, providing them the opportunity to get themselves acquainted with the CBT testing, conquer fear and anxiety which will help them prepare better for the main UTME.
So, participating in mock-UTME gives more advantage to some candidates because they must conquered fear, anxiety and prepare better for the examination.
AVOID TIME WASTING
Candidates must know that time is alloted to each examination, and there won’t be additional time. With this knowledge, candidates are often advised not to waste time on questions that gives them tough time. Skip such questions that are unclear to you. You might wish to return to them after you might have answered other questions.
Spending time on those “tough” questions might affect the outcome of the examination. Because before you know what’s happening, your time is over and the system might lock you out.
BEWARE OF INTERNET FRAUDSTERS
Please avoid the embarrassment the came the way of Ms Mmesomma Ejikeme, last year, who ignorantly fell into the hands of internet fraudster who tempered with her result, making her claim she had the highest score in the UTME.
To avoid this, stay away from unrealistic promises that are flying in the social media space. The scammers are leveraging the innocence/ignorance of the candidates, as well as the desperation of their parents to swindle them of their hard earned fortunes.
Last week, the Police through the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, at a press conference advised candidates to abide by the rules as highlighted by JAMB, and most importantly, stay away from activities of scammers in the digital space making unrealistic promises.
He announced that the Inspector-General of Police has directed the Nigeria Police Force National Cyber Crime Centre (NPF-NCCC) to go after the scammers and fraudsters who engage in such cyber related crimes during the 2024 UTME and after.
