You cannot talk about gaining admission into any institution of higher education be it a university, polytechnic, or even a college of education without first talking about JAMB. JAMB is the standard exam for admitting prospective students into any Nigerian institution of higher education.

JAMB conducts a nationwide examination every year for prospective students of various institutions of higher education in Nigeria. Like any other university, polytechnic or college entrance examination body in the world, JAMB/UTME has guidelines and rules to follow if you have to be successful in the entrance examination.

Now, we are going to look at the very best ways to conquer JAMB. You should know that there are certain secrets in passing JAMB without much stress, but before we go further, I will like to clear your mind on one very important question which if neglected our effort here will be a waste of time. The question is: how you ready to gain admission this year? If your answer is “Yes”, please read on, but if it’s “No”, please this article is not for you.

Before we move further, I will also like to inform you that the exam secrets shown here are specifically for JAMB and Post JAMB examination.

Success in JAMB exams and Post JAMB isn’t only for the clever and hardworking students. Success in JAMB comes as much, if not more, from your approach to the exam and some simple techniques to be used on the day of the exam itself. A universal culture of fear, worry and stress has developed around JAMB examination and Post JAMB examination.

Most students preparing for JAMB exams think that the exam is very hard. The fact is that, it’s hard as you make it or see it. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. For few who know the secret, it’s not easier said than done at all. All you need to know is the secret- these points, before registration for JAMB or Post JAMB and going into the examination hall.

Firstly, study hard as if this JAMB exam will be your last but, study wisely.

Secondly, know the techniques and methods to answer JAMB exam questions. For example, in the art subjects no calculation is required, so it would be better and advisable to start with the subject you are good at most since this will give you a better advantage to gain some amount of time for the other subjects.
You don’t have to boast of knowing a particular subject more than the other subjects when you have not even seen the question papers. You have to treat all the subjects as equal, at least, before you go through the question papers without any special preference to anyone of them.

So, how do I know the subject to answer first? Good question. All you have to do here is to undergo a thorough and quick scanning of the questions of the different subjects to see the particular subject which you have more advantage than the others. When this is done, you now have to arrange the subjects from one to four according to their advantages with preference to the next subject.

Please, don’t always follow the order of subjects on the question paper set e.g. LIT-CRK-GOVT. In this case, let us assume that GOVT; after scanning through the question papers happens to be of more advantage than the rest subjects. At this point, you have to start with GOVT and proceed to other subjects according to your judgment of their simplicity or preference.

You are going to do the same for science subjects but, in this case, you now have to judge base on calculations density and difficulty. We all know that calculations take more time in examination conditions. So, the best way to do this is to start with English-language only to be followed by any science subject you have judged simpler than the rest two other science subjects. All I’m trying to point out here is that you are your own judge. And note that, your success in JAMB/UTME and Post JAMB depends largely on the effectiveness and accuracy of your judgment.

In answering the English-language questions, you have to be very careful. It might interest you to know that English-language in JAMB and in Post JAMB is a bonus for the serious minded student.

In the comprehension part of the English-language question, you have to first of all read the questions. You can read the questions up to three times at most, for them to stick to your head. Now, go through the comprehension passage and read just once. Since you are reading just once, you have to concentrate and in the process of reading the passage mark out or underline the answers to the questions you memorized. This is possible since while reading up the passage, you will find the answers to the questions coming up from the passage. This works like magic. This is made possible since you programmed your brain to give answers to these specific questions you had compiled into the brain. The brain is a computer like CPU (central processing unit) which gives an output (answers) for every input (questions). So, you have to learn and master how to maximize the potentials of your brain.

In the registrar section, you also have to make good use of your brain here. This has to work perfectly well for you base on your past experiences and some specific information stored in your brain. For example, if the registrar is all about a Doctor’s medical practice, then your brain’s frequency should be tuned to the part of your brain containing medical information. That is how it works. So, in this case, you should be looking for words that are medical for each question in relation to other answers before or below it. What I mean here is that your answers should be correlated.

For the rest parts/sections in the English-language question paper, you need to have a strong base in lexis and structures. You have to learn the elimination method of answering questions. Like I said earlier, you have to be your own judge by quarantining the wrong options and picking the right option as your answer.

“I learned that good judgment comes from experience and that experience grows out of mistakes”- Omar Bradley. From this quote, your experience has to come from your practice texts on the pass question papers. In the JAMB and Post JAMB examination, there shouldn’t be any room for mistakes.

Thirdly, practice with past question papers and time yourself while doing this. Monitor your progress and identify areas which need improvement i.e. look for your weak spots and improve on them. Get the past question papers and get yourself used to their pattern and trend of how their questions are set. From this, you can easily recognize the focus points from these subjects.

Lastly, you have to learn how to time yourself so that time doesn’t beat you but instead, you beating the time for the exam. So, it’s very necessary to go to the exam hall with your wrist watch properly functioning. Before you start answering the questions, you have to know the time allocated to each subject and try to finish at least ten to twenty minutes before the time elapses. So, you have to be fast and accurate.

If a particular question is giving you much problem, please I advice that you leave that question and go to the next question; probably coming back later to answer it after you must have being through with the questions from each subject that you know. What really matters in JAMB/UTME and Post UTME/JAMB is what you know not what you think you know. You have to be very sure of your answers since failing the question you think you know will make you a bad judge.

When time is up against you and you still have some questions unanswered, please, you just have to shade them like that, but never have you leave any space blank. Failing a question is better than not even shading it at all. Forget about the wrong ideology that JAMB does negative marking. That is by no means true.

The earlier you start seeing JAMB and Post JAMB exams as just a stepping stone which cannot stop you from gaining that admission of your thoughts the better for you. Do not see JAMB or Post JAMB exams as one difficult exam that you cannot pass. You just have to face these exams eye ball to eye ball and see who will first blink.