2017 UTME; ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

                  

 The wait for the commencement 0f registration for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has left thousands of prospective candidates frustrated and impatient. However, the Joint Admission and Matriculation board has assured candidates that the sell of forms would commence this month of March. The delay in the sale of the forms could be attributed to the fact that this year UTME examination will be different from those held in the past. Here is why:

                            

(1)   Change in choice of institution:  Unlike in the past, candidates would no longer be allowed to choose more than one public university. Any candidate that selects a public university as their degree awarding institution will have to select a private university as an alternative, however candidates can select as many as three polytechnics and college of educations and one innovative enterprise institution

(2)    THERE WOULD BE MOCK UTME:  JAMB announced that there would be mock UTME examinations to enable candidates prepare well for the real examination. This move is believed to be targeted at helping some candidates who mayn’t be accustomed to using computers in order to prevent any irregularity on exam days.

(3)    NO SCRATCH CARD:  JAMB registrar, Prof Isaq Oloyede explained that most candidates had problems of missing, burnt or stolen scratch cards, and in order to make registration more easy, the use of scratch card would be stopped. Instead, all candidates would pay the registration fee directly to the government coffers.

(4)    CCTV CAMERAS WOULD BE USED:  Perhaps, the most welcoming development of this year UTME is that CCTV surveillance cameras would be used in the examination centers .This move, if implemented would help in combating the menace of examination malpractice in UTME.

(5)   NO MORE POST UTME:  Last year, the federal government announced that POST UTME examinations would be scrapped in all tertiary institution and that directive is expected to be fully implemented this year. All institutions are expected to release their admission requirements earlier before candidates would be selected for the final screening

(6)   O’LEVEL RESULTS TO PLAY A BIG ROLE: The scrapping of POST UTME means that many schools would use UTME scores and WAEC,NECO,GCE and NABTEB scores as the major criteria for admission. Earlier this week, JAMB announced that candidates with awaiting result could apply for the UTME but must ensure that their results are ready before the commencement of the final screening. This could, in many ways affect candidates who lack distinction in their O’level results

     All things being equal, its fair to agree that this year UTME would be quite different or maybe more exciting than any UTME exam ever held in Nigeria. Sell of forms would commence shortly, all candidates most take caution and not patronize unaccredited JAMB registration centers to avoid stories that touch

  Please note that the points raised above were gotten from the many press conference and meetings held by JAMB over the past months, the publisher of this post isn’t liable for any inconvenience that may arise from reading the post.