So You Are Not Adequately Prepared?!

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.

I Have A Dream, A Computer-Based Dream!

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/