I have a recent funny event that was relayed to me by a school teacher who’d sold EasiPREP CBT products to students not only in his school but as far as schools outside his state of residence. A student had reluctantly bought the EasiPREP DVD Edition from him and while at home the following day, the student started testing out the product by practicing a subject or two on it. Unknowingly to the student, while she was engrossed with the exam practice session with EasiPREP on the Home DVD Player and TV in the living room, her father had crept up behind her and was observing what was going on. For those who don’t know, the EasiPREP DVD Edition is interactive and allows a student to answer questions on the Home DVD Player with the DVD Remote Control acting like a computer mouse to select answer options and click on them. When a student gets a question wrong, there is a sound that is generated to indicate that, along with the visual information on display. Similarly for getting a question right, there is a corresponding sound cue. As it happened on this day, the girl answered wrongly in the last three (3) questions attempted by her while her father was behind her observing. She was startled when the father commented from behind her that it is apparent she isn’t adequately prepared for the coming examination contrary to his opinion or the one she’d conveyed to him!
That weekend, the teacher, who happens to attend the same church with the parents of the student, was sought out by the girl’s father, who profusely thanked him for the wonderful product (the EasiPREP DVD Edition) that allowed him to know his daughter still needed more preparation for her exams!
It is another one up that EasiPREP allows parents and guardians to have a clear idea of the level of preparation of their children or ward for the WAEC SSCE, NECO SSCE and JAMB UTME instead of waiting and getting shocked by the examination results. Avoid the option of your child or student blaming examination bodies for his/her result when the results actually reflect his/her lack of adequate preparation for the examination. Guarantee better results today with EasiPREP! Visit www.easiprep.com for more information.
Apologies to the late Martins Luther King Jnr. and his estate for the use of the world-famous “I have a dream…” phrase in this write up to highlight my own dreams of a future, the context and contents of which in a way does may not bear the same weight as Mr. Kings’ but nonetheless emphasizes a sub-set of freedom; freedom for students all over Nigeria who have at one point in their life faced the unfortunate situation of having to wait a year or more after losing a battle to the “dreaded” Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)’s University Matriculation Examination (UME), now the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the loss of which might be just a few points or numbers, but the import of which could be summed in the adage “A miss is as good as a mile”.
I have a dream; a dream that one day, JAMB UTME results would be available within 24 hours of taking the examination.
I have a dream, that one day, JAMB UTME examinations would be conducted more than once, at least 4 times a year, in the mould of SAT and TOEFL.
I have a dream, that one day, mass cancellation of results of JAMB UTME centers for irregularities and cheating, in which the innocent suffer as much as the wicked, would be a thing of the past, and everyone would soon be easily held up for his or her sins.
I have a dream, that one day, failing or making a mistake at a single JAMB UTME examination sitting would not prevent a student from entering tertiary institution for a whole year, because such a student would have one or more opportunities to attempt the examination again before admission processing at tertiary institutions for the new academic year.
I have a dream, when JAMB UTME results would no longer be with-held for any reason whatsoever and the days of examination imposters and mercenaries would be a thing of history.
I have a dream that the cost of JAMB UTME eventually would come down because of the reduced logistic costs through Computer-Based and Internet-Based Testing, making it affordable for a wider range of Nigerian students seeking tertiary education.
I believe, to a certain extent from several interviews that he has granted, that the current JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde shares my dream. And I believe that with determination, focus and resourcefulness on his part and with the support of fellow Nigerians, he can make the dream a reality for the benefit of us all and the unborn. However, I must also state here that I have a nightmare…., a nightmare of JAMB UTME CBT gone wrong, in which the focus is on making money from hapless Nigerian students rather than delivering anything of value to them,…. a nightmare in which the JAMB UTME CBT software’s effectiveness and integrity’s compromised and students get the wrong results and are forced to pay for the inefficiencies of others who should have done things right in the first place! I also hope Prof. Dibu Ojerinde shares these nightmares and would work tirelessly to ensure they do not become a reality that has to be defended with excuses in the media here and there, while hapless students and their parents bear the pains of an experiment gone wrong and JAMB contractors smile to the bank.
At EasiPREP, we share the dreams of a CBT future, a future already staring from now, in which computers and information technology makes examination preparation, testing and assessment easy and worth the money, delivering undeniable and obvious value to students, parents and academic institutions. At EasiPREP, we are eliminating the era of carrying around lots of past question paper booklets to prepare for examinations, we’re helping to save the trees, and save the stress. Instead of several booklets to cover several subjects for examinations like JAMB UTME, WAEC & NECO SSCE, you now have it all on something you can hold in the palm of your hand. Yes, that’s why we made the One CD to contain them all… the One DVD to contain them all, 13 subjects and still counting, across 3 major national examinations and still counting; the EasiPREP CBT CD and DVD Editions! Like Coca Cola, it cuts across class, wealth, location and other barriers, to deliver value to that smart, wise and insightful student who wants to make a difference in his/her academic future. For more information, please visit http://www.easiprep.com/
Marketing innovative educational products and education-enhancing solutions to private and public schools in Nigeria has afforded me a lot of insights into the operations of these schools in the country including information about strengths and weaknesses. I have seen private schools that are very expensive, yet offering both academic and moral training no better than private schools charging far less than them. I have seen private schools that are not all that expensive, yet offering excellent academic training to their students and giving parents more than enough value for their money. I must state here to avoid needless debate that I quite understand and agree with the fact that ideally, schools should offer more than academic training to students. However, in order to appropriately treat the topic of this discuss on examination failure, I would dwell on the quality of academic instruction being given to students from my interactions with private schools and public schools.
One of the core and important things about sound education is that it should inspire the hunger and desire to learn in students, which as a life-long attribute in these students, would go a long way in molding and shaping their lives, because life in itself, is an almost never-ending learning experience. When students in any school lose the enthusiasm to learn, to be curious about things, to explore innovations that would enhance their learning experience and academic performance, then there is a serious problem.
One of the major problems causing failure and low academic performance in schools in the country is the killing of this spirit of enthusiasm to learn in students by schools and parents.
Public schools for one, are banned from selling, aiding or introducing in any way, any product to students even when it would greatly enhance the learning experience and academic performance of these students, without the express approval of the State or Federal Ministry of Education as the case may be. And in order to avoid witch-hunting and being accused of ulterior motives, teachers and administrators in public schools deliberately fail and even refuse out-rightly to recommend any product that would aid their students to the relevant ministry. And if any product or innovation where to come from such ministries, teachers and principals of public schools avoid having to evaluate the effectiveness of those products or innovations on their students in order not to incur wraths from above!
As a result of the above, public school students lose out on a lot of things that would have helped their academic pursuits. They are stuck with old and uninteresting ways of learning that do not in any way foster curiously or enthusiasm to learn.
For most private schools, the situation is a little different but practically with the same result. Based on the incessant complaints of parents on schools often increasing their fees and charges, most private schools are quite unwillingly to introduce or recommend any product, solution or innovation to parents that would involve any cost because of the perceived outcry that would follow, even if there are obvious benefits to the academic performance of the students. To some extent, the schools can hardly be blamed because these days, most parents demonstrate instant resistance to anything that would cost them money aside their children’s regular school fees, most times without even bothering to evaluate what is on offer! These attitudes of parents and private schools more often than not result in students losing out on innovations and solutions that could enhance their learning and academic performance.
For example, some private schools have deliberately kept parents in the dark about the revised senior secondary school curriculum from NERDC that takes effect from September 2011 for the simple reason that it would generate undue pressure on them to which they cannot react by increasing fees even when absolutely necessary. It is not difficult to imagine, that a school without a functional computer lab or without a computer lab at all would not want any parent with children in the school to be aware that Computer Studies is now mandatory for senior secondary school students in the country; because such school would come under pressure to have a functional computer lab which would cost money. And with recent hike in school fees as a result of the effects of National minimum wage increase, it would be difficult for the aforementioned school to finagle the financing of a new functional computer laboratory from additional hiking of school fees! The end-result is that favourable and positive policies in national education are quietly “sat upon” by schools while hoping the non-implementation of such policies wouldn’t affect the academic performance of students and when actions are taken or examinations set based on the assumption of implementation of such policies, mass failure often result!
For example, JAMB UTME from next year is going to be computer-based. It is easier to come to terms with that fact if secondary schools all implement the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) revised senior secondary school curriculum from September 2011 which is more than 6 months before the JAMB UTME CBT and schools also take advantage of effective and quality computer-based examination preparatory solutions and products such as the ones from EasiPREP. Complaint of students not being computer literate would be few because in all honesty, most schools were aware of the NERDC recommendations as far back as 2009. However, most schools are currently too caught up in the minimum wage school fee increment issue to attend to any other important issue and the result could be mass failure in JAMB UTME 2012. And this goes even for schools where parents pay exorbitant school fees to keep their children in attendance!
I was discussing recently with a Secondary School proprietor about the new model of Computer-Based examination delivery for the JAMB Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) which would commence from 2012 and the need for adequate preparation for her school students. Surprisingly to me and probably unsurprisingly to others, she told me the school had a computer laboratory that was functional, and as such, did not expect her school students to have any problem with JAMB UTME being computer-based. Well, I almost laughed at the confidence and certainty with which she made the statement, in a matter-of-fact way. However, I cautioned myself and recounted a little story to her, the story of two young men being chased by a Lion along a long and desolate road. One of the young men paused briefly to remove his unwieldy leather shoes and put on running shoes. The other young man looked at him as if he was being foolish and sadly said, “You can’t outrun the Lion you know that? Not even with your running shoes.” Then the young man with the running shoes looked at his compatriot, smiled sympathetically and said, “I’m not putting on the shoes to outrun the Lion; I’m putting them on to outrun you!” If you’re yet to get it, the logic in the young man’s thinking is simply this: The Lion would catch the slower of the two men and while the Lion is busy mauling his victim, the other can escape!
The moral of the story is this: In any race, you always look for any and all things that would give you an advantage over your co-racers! More than 1.4 million students now sit for the JAMB UTME annually, while the schools can hardly admit 15% of that number due to space limitations. There is no passing score in JAMB UTME; your score is only good enough when it gets you into your desired Tertiary Institution to pursue your desired course of study! As a student, if you scored 250 when 60% of students who sat for the exam also scored 250 and above, you shouldn’t be celebrating, because you have a problem already!
Having a computer lab may seem like the all in all to pass the JAMB UTME computer-based examination, but that thinking is not much different from having pencil and paper and assuming it is enough to help you pass the old pencil and paper JAMB UTME! How do you pace yourself with taking an examination on a computer that doesn’t allow you to review questions already answered? That doesn’t allow you to leave some tough questions and come back to them later? That might only give you a limited time to answer each question unlike in paper-based where you can spend all the time on questions that you choose to do so? How do you learn to seamlessly synchronize working and doing calculations on sheets of paper while answering the question proper on a computer? How do you cope with a clock ticking down right in front of you and not develop anxiety while taking an exam on the computer? Remember, in the old paper-based exam, you only have a general sense of time and not with a ticking stop watch right in your face, which is a different ball game all-together! All these and many other questions and peculiar situations in a Computer-Based Exam simply point to the fact that it is premature thinking that could be very dangerous to assume that having a functional Computer Lab is just enough to guarantee success for your students in the coming JAMB UTME! EasiPREP CBT solutions whether on the Internet, in your Computer Lab or on student personal computers, allow your students to experience the CBT examination environment, learn to pace themselves, get automated grading at the edn of each practice session and many more benefits that help in a huge way towards guaranteeing success in the JAMB UTME Computer-Based Examination. For more information about EasiPREP, visit www.easiprep.com
Today I remember a somewhat funny but insightful event in the life of one of my close friends that he found time to recount gleefully during our days at the University. The talk then centered on the “smart-foolishness” of youth at times and he told the story of when during his preparation for examinations, he would prepare with the past-question booklets and was required to finish a subject or two before the arrival of his father. However, to create time for his youthful love of soccer, he found ways to always present the same set of questions and subjects he had attempted previously to his father. Thus he only had to spend time on Monday to do the real-work attempting a few subjects while Tuesday through Friday he spent repeatedly passing off the Monday work as fresh work for those days! For a weary civil servant that his father was, who was already tired from the day’s work and was only making the attempts to be an all-round good parent and check what his son had done towards academic progress before retiring finally for the day, the circumstances easily favoured my friend’s con. However, who was the loser? Of course my friend admitted with the benefit of hind-sight years later that he was! The old-man had done his own part with the best of intentions, even though he never caught up to the con.
Fortunately today, with EasiPREP Internet-based examination practice platform, such cons as the one my friend’s pulled on his dad are now practically impossible to carry out. After a student has logged unto the EasiPREP platform and completed practice sessions, a good parent can easily login to the EasiPREP platform and see the results of the practice sessions of his or her son or daughter, complete with the date and time of practice, the subjects and the scores obtained at each practice session amongst a host of other valuable information. With that, a parent can know the precise time his or her child practiced with the EasiPREP platform, see the progress being made in each subject area and much more. Another exciting fact about the EasiPREP platform is that the parent can check his or her child’s progress and reports from anywhere with internet access i.e. during break at work, after-work hours or on mobile internet devices like phones, tablets and laptops with internet access! For a busy urban lifestyle as obtainable in Lagos and Abuja where parents could consistently get home real late, this seems god-sent for parents who want to take active interest in their children’s education.
Unpredictability is as much a fact of life as Change is, and the more so in African countries where planning is often done on ad-hoc basis. Sometimes, one of the worst hit sectors is Education, where strike actions by teachers or infrastructure issues may result in mass failures, serious education hiatus or damage to continuity in education that could have long term effects in the lives of affected students. I remember having to wait practically a whole academic year after graduating from Secondary School despite having all the requisite JAMB UME and WAEC SSCE grades along with an admission letter, all because of a face-off between the Federal Government and the University Lecturers’ Association (ASUU). My situation, as unpalatable as it looked then, was a lot better than that of another student who had to attend a Government-owned Secondary School. Due to a nation-wide strike action by teachers during his final year in the school, he was unable to get the necessary assistance and guidance in preparing for WAEC SSCE and JAMB UME, leading to failure in the examinations and one or two re-sits before he could proceed to a tertiary institution. For the seemingly simple strike action of about one year, the aforementioned student lost two to three years, thousands of Naira in examination and preparation fees and un-quantifiable self-esteem and confidence in his academic abilities, the effects of which may last a life-time. How bad or worse could the situation or its effects be? Imagine a situation in which the student is from a poor home and an uncle or benefactor who could pay for his tertiary education where to pass on during the periods of failure and re-sitting examinations the poor student could have passed at once with the necessary preparation? Imagine the poor student missing a scholarship he could have earned as a result of these avoidable failures? Suffice to say, the opportunity cost could be limitless.
Though Nigeria is making some progress, we may not be able to rule out strike actions by teachers in Government-owned Secondary Schools for the time being. However, EasiPREP offers more than adequate insurance for students now preparing for the major national examinations of JAMB UTME, WAEC & NECO SSCE with its round-the-clock all-year-round Internet-based examination preparation platform. EasiPREP’s examination preparation packages are self-paced and do not require the presence of a teacher or instructor for students to practice with it or prepare for their examinations. EasiPREP also offers a wide range of delivery options aside the Internet-based platform, such as EasiPREP CBT software for installation on personal computers and laptops without need for internet-access and EasiPREP CBT DVD Edition for interactive play of any modern Home DVD player. With EasiPREP, you can mitigate or eliminate the effects of teacher strike actions, political unrest, general insecurity and even acts of God upon your examination preparation, thus avoiding failure! While you can’t always be sure with predictability of events that may affect your normal course preparation for exams, guarantee success with EasiPREP.
