At least, 84,000 candidates on Tuesday sat for the rescheduled Mock-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Mock-UTME) conducted nationwide by the Joint Administrations and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The rescheduled Mock-UTME according to the Board was organised only for candidates, who indicated interest, at the point of registration for2023 UTME to sit the mock examination but who were not successful during the Thursday, 30th March 2023, exercise on account of technical challenges.
Registrar of JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, while fielding questions from newsmen after monitoring the exercise in Abuja, expressed delight over the hitch-free examination.
Oloyede commended candidates for showing understanding over the board’s decision to reschedule the examination for Tuesday (today), noting that the glitches earlier observed in the Mock-UTME in some centres that prompted it to be rescheduled was as a result of deployments of innovations.
He said: “We should also thank the students for bearing with us when we were trial-testing. You know we gave notice that we were moving to a new level and I think by God’s grace, we are now arriving at the next level. Those things we wanted to test, we have seen what they were and we went back and made sure everything works and it is working.
“We will still be focused on issues relating to cable- that you called network in the centre, there may be a few centres that we may have one problem or the other but we are going to get over that.
“For example, we have decided all those with zero thin clients (computers that have no CPU identity but rely on the central server and share the same IP address) will have to change if they must continue on our network.”
The JAMB boss further stated that the Mock-UTME was held in 387 Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres across the country, with 16 of the centres having two sessions, adding that the results of the exam would be out today.
“They will get their results today, of course, the results will be out today, and how many of them? 84,000,” Oloyede said.
JAMB’s Director of Information Technology Services (ITS), Fabian Okoro, who was on the ground at the control room domiciled in the examination body’s headquarters in Bwari, Abuja, said real-time information from all CBT centres revealed that the examination was conducted smoothly.
“When we did the first examination, we were testing new features and we observed lapses, we have to go back to the drawing board and make sure they are corrected.
“You can see from the control room here, there are fewer calls coming in, that shows the exam is moving smoothly and peacefully in all the centres across the country,” Okoro said.
JAMB’s ICT consultant, Damilola Bamiro, who was also in the control/call room to ensure any possible technical issue regarding the mock exam is immediately resolved, corroborated Okoro’s views.
Some of the CBT centres in Abuja which were visited during the monitoring exercise include the Total Child Model College, Dutse, JAMB CBT Centre, and Kogo, among others, candidates were seen taking part in the exam in an orderly manner.
Luka Mercy, one of the affected candidates who participated in the rescheduled examination while speaking with journalists, commended JAMB for ensuring that the mock examination u went on as planned without any issues.
“The JAMB (exam) was actually a good and successful one, no problem at all, no worries. The computer did not go off and I finished successfully and I really enjoyed the questions that were set.”
Asked about the course she intends to study, the 17-year-old Mercy said: “I applied to Nasarawa State University, Keffi, to study Political Science. Actually, I want to become a politician in the future and if possible, the first woman president of Nigeria.”
The mock examination was designed for the purpose of testing JAMB’s preparedness and that of its partners for UTME as well as giving prospective candidates the opportunity to have hands-on experience in the CBT test environment.
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