How to Study UTME Past Questions To Score 300 Above

UTME later became a computer-based test

I wrote JAMB twice - one for UME and the other for MPCE. For the UME I scored 285 over 400 and for the MPCE 189 over 300.

Ok, let me speak the language you understand.

Until 2010, this exam wasn’t called the UTME that you grew up to know. We wrote two in a year then. The first was University Matriculation Examination (UME) usually around May. This was written to pursue university admissions.

Then, the second, Polytechnic Certified Examination MPCE was written to pursue polytechnic and colleges of education admissions. 

UME grading was over 400 while PCE was 300. This was used until 2010 when JAMB finally merged the two exams and formed UTME.

You can imagine what it would be like to score 285 in UTME today or 189 in an exam of 300 marks.

This, I was able to achieve, not because of my brilliance but because I was smart. My smartness was not because I read just like everybody. No!

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When I Prepared for JAMB, I didn’t read, I Studied

Confused?

That’s where most students get it wrong today. They can’t differentiate between "studying" and "reading".

Check this out…

If I ask you, “do you know chalk”?

I know you will say, "Yes".

Do you know why?

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Because you know it truly. You have been using that since you were in the nursery class, more likely.

But if I ask you, what is chalk made of? How does chalk taste? About how many holes can be found in a piece of chalk? What is the average weight of a piece of chalk?

I know you’re puzzled already.

You see, that’s the difference between studying and reading.

Most students read because that’s what they have been doing. But if you must pass JAMB, like me or any other candidates giving 270 or more, you must study to know so much about what you’re reading instead of having general knowledge.

I use this approach mostly in my JAMB preparation.  So, how does it apply to studying the JAMB past question packs/series?

Before we go further, what’s a JAMB series?

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JAMB Series - the Need to Pass JAMB UTME

JAMB series is the question pack compiled from the past year's exams set for admission seekers in all JAMB subjects.

In order to perform beyond average in UTME, you must buy 4 JAMB packs for your subjects. For instance, if you’re seeking admission to Pharmacy, you'll need the JAMB Series or packs for English, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

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Sample Mathematics questions from the JAMB series

Some packs contain questions for about 20 years or 15. Will you need that much to read for JAMB? Not really but get it anyway.

Now, let’s get into how to Study them and get a higher score in UTME.

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Light Attempt: Follow Your Own Rules

Do selective reading: I can’t understand why you will want to read all 20-year questions of each subject/pack. Why? You don’t need that much.

If you must cover the 20 years pack in your four subjects, you’ve read 80 years together. That’s ridiculously too exhausting. So what do you do instead?

Select a few years to cover. I recommend 7 - 11 years in each.

Our focus is to study these past questions such that if repeated by JAMB, you can be proud of remembering everything. 

Is that possible? Let’s see!

First, I have to let you know a little secret, JAMB doesn’t have new questions. They repeat questions from the past. They may not bring up the whole question, but they do repeat a few here and a few there.

Let’s start with the English

Get an exercise book.

Open a page of that and rule for the number of questions to answer.

Like this 👇

Number like this

That drawing is for the 100 English questions. For other subjects, you’ll draw 50 each. And if you're own English is 50, draw for the number too. In your own case, your numbering might just be 60 for English and 40 for each of the other three subjects

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Now, start reading and answering your questions.

When you’re done, go to the back of your pack and check for the corresponding answers.

Mark yourself.

After marking, grade it. Now, what’s your score over 100/60 or over 50/40?

Whatever you get is not our concern here. We want to study not read - remember?

Now go and check each question – find out why you got the one you scored and why you missed the one you messed up with.

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You’ll be slow here of course. You have to check one question after the other. There were, of course. some questions that you must have thought you’d got but after marking you missed. You need to know why you messed up there. If need be, take a textbook and restudy the topic under which the question was set to be sure of your position on each answer.

Also, there will be questions you’re doubting or you just guessed when answering, but after marking, you got it. You know what? That’s gambling! It hardly works in real exams. So check them too, be sure you agree with the answers to those questions, and commit them to mind.

After that, take a moment off your reading. You can just stroll around for a few minutes or handle some home chores.

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Fight Back Attempt: Test if You're Committing Things to Mind

Then, return to the same questions.

Draw a new table of marking and redo the same questions

Yes, do it again!

This is how you will know if you’re just reading or studying.

After this second grading, what’s your score? Do you get them all or did you miss some?

See, if you get it all, the war is not over but you're doing well already. If you missed some, you need to check yourself now. If you missed anything again after 15 minutes break, how will you get any after one week?

This is why most students keep reading and there won’t be anything to show for it when JAMB releases their results.

This is how you will cover all your selected 7 years and for all four subjects.

The final Test - The war is not Over

Remember I said even if you got everything after the 15 minutes break Fight back Attempt, the war was not over. This was what I meant.

If you select 7 years for your 4 subjects, in all, you’ve covered 28 years. You should achieve this in a week.

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Final Battle: Imagine Yourself in the Live Exams Hall

A few days before your exams, you’re going for the final battle which is the 3rd reading of the same questions.

I believe by now, if you’ve not committed your reading to mind, you could have forgotten all the answers in a week. So you must redo it on the 3rd and last time.

Draw your scoring table again and start over.

This time, make sure you work within the right scope of time you’re expecting in the exams – 2 hours or one and a half hours.

Do it not like reading but like writing live exams.

Now mark yourself and see how improved you’ve got in a week. If you still missed beyond your expectations or mine, kindly start over. If you’re like me, I will at least reproduce 95 out of 100 or 47 out of 50 (53 out of 60 or 34/40).

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Final Note

I said earlier that JAMB didn't have new questions. They would repeat a few of what you’ve read using this method. You should remember everything and put it down exactly as you’ve done it before.

Wishing you luck!

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