Playing Catch-Up to JAMB UTME Computer-Based Testing

Those who play catch-up often times fail to effectively catch up. JAMB already signaled its intention to conduct Computer- Based Exams (also referred to as e-Testing) from as early as 2010 because of the obvious benefits of the method in reducing or eliminating cheating, reduction of delivery time-frame for results and reduction in exam delivery costs amongst logistic and other benefits. Despite facing opposition and several challenges, the examination body has been able to partly fulfill its goal of conducting CBT exams in 2013 and is on course towards full-CBT adoption by 2015!

Some nay sayers are going to be sitting and watching how things go, full of skepticism and being masters of negative criticism and seers of challenges. Just as many were skeptical when Noah was building the ark and ended up begging to be let in when the rain will not stop, a good number of schools may end up scrambling for damage control only after their students have experienced mass failure in the JAMB UTME.

Based on a comparison of performance results, students who sat for the JAMB UTME CBT in 2013 generally had better results than those who took the old-style Paper-Based Exam. That in itself alone has generated a lot of excitement with a lot more students poised to register for the JAMB UTME CBT option due the attraction of better results.

However, expectations without foundations often lead to disappointments. Merely choosing JAMB UTME CBT option because others who sat for the option previously performed well, is no guarantee of success without adequate preparation. It is just like saying that there is money in Lagos, New York or London. It simply does not mean the money is literarily for picking on the streets of these major cities!

It should go without saying that the students confident enough to register for the JAMB UTME CBT option in 2013 knew they were adequately prepared and that was the key reason they had good results. That is why those who are all contemplating the JAMB UTME CBT option for the coming examination should either be prepared or start preparing now! 

Smart schools and smart students desirous of excellent JAMB UTME CBT results are already adopting EasiPREP CBT solution for examination preparation. EasiPREP CBT solutions allow students to prepare for Computer-Based Examinations like the JAMB UTME CBT by practicing with a databank of JAMB UTME, WAEC SSCE and NECO SSCE past questions covering over 13 subjects spread over 10 years in a simulated testing environment with actual timing and automated scoring at the end of each practice exercise! EasiPREP CBT offers the broadest preparation platform editions in Nigeria including the (1) Internet Edition for those who have access to internet and can access our website at www.easiprep.com, the (2) Personal Computer Edition for those who wish to install and use it on personal computers and laptops without having to use the internet and the (3) School Network Edition that can be used by students in the school computer laboratory network without need for internet! We also have the (4) Tablet Edition for tablets and smart phones running Android OS!

For more information about EasiPREP CBT products, please visit www.easiprep.com

Needful Things: Why Students Fail Exams Even While Attending Expensive Schools!

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!

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