JAMB CBT: Having A Computer-Lab Is Not Enough

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