The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, on Thursday commenced the mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, for no fewer than 211,000 candidates across the country.
According to JAMB officials, the purpose of the mock exam is to help prospective candidates become familiar with the Computer-Based Testing method used by the board.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made this known while overseeing the conduct of the mock exercise at a CBT center in Bwari, Abuja. He stated that the results of the mock exam would be released the next day.
“They will have the results tomorrow. The results will be ready. Those who finished, we are working now on their results, but we want to compare with the second batch, the third batch, and so on. And see that everything is working well. But later by tomorrow, they will have the results,” he said.
Oloyede further explained that the mock exam is part of efforts to assess JAMB’s readiness for the main UTME and to test out new strategies aimed at improving the examination process.
“The word is mock, and we want to say so far so good. What we want to do is to try some things. As students are getting wiser, we are also getting better…
“Because we are doing certain things to ensure that those things are done. So we are trying to make sure that when we go for the exam, we will have taken experience and learned some lessons from our experience at the mock level. So, so far, so good,” he said.
He emphasized that hard work and preparation remain the only genuine ways to succeed in the UTME. He also raised alarm over the increasing number of candidates engaging rogue websites in hopes of getting assistance to cheat.
“We need to let the students know that the best way to pass the examination, UTME in particular, is to study. We are aware of some rogue websites asking people to come and pay that they can help.
“It cannot work. We have also opened our own rogue website. And as of this morning, about 180 students have paid.
“So those students, because attempting to cheat is already an infraction, we are going to deal firmly with them. And many of the institutions, UTME is not a school-based examination.
“We register students individually. And that is why we tell the students, do not give out your registration number. Do not register by proxy.
“Do not give your registration number to anybody. Because some of these schools want to be able to brag that, oh, my 10 students from my school scored 280. There was a state where even the governor of a state was misinformed, and they were celebrating nothing. So this type of thing that people want to cut corners, we are aware of all this. And we are doing everything possible to stop it.
“We have about 180 of them. And we are going to deal with them firmly. We are going to cancel their results, both UTME and DE,” Oloyede said.
He warned candidates against seeking help from fraudulent sources or individuals who claim to offer assistance during the examination process.
“Some of them are paying N30,000 for something that will never work. And to some, when I look at those who have paid us this money, I smile,” he added.
As a reminder, the 2025 UTME is set to begin on April 25 at approved CBT centers nationwide.