No fewer than 84,000 candidates sat for the rescheduled mock-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in 387 Computer Based Test (CBT) centres across the country.

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made the disclosure while monitoring the examination in Abuja on Tuesday, April 18.

The mock examination is designed for the purpose of testing JAMB’s preparedness and that of its partners for UTME.

It is also to give prospective candidates the opportunity to have hands-on experience of the CBT centres.

Oloyede, who expressed delight over the hitch-free exercise, commended the candidates for showing understanding over the board’s decision to reschedule the examination for April 18.

He said 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.

The JAMB Registrar said: “We should also thank the students for bearing with us when we were trial-testing.

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“You know we gave a 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 worked and it is working.

“For example, we have decided that all those with zero thin clients (computers that have no Central Processing Unit (CPU) identity but rely on central server and share same IP address) will have to change if they must continue on our network.”

Oloyede said the rescheduled examination took place in 387 CBT centres across the country with 16 of the centres having two sessions, adding that the results would be out before the end of day.

On his part, JAMB’s Director of Information Technology Services (ITS), Fabian Okoro, said real-time information from all CBT centres showed that the examination was conducted smoothly.

“When we did the first exam, we were testing new features and we observed lapses. We had to go back to the drawing board and make sure they were corrected.

“You can see from the control room here that there are less calls coming in. That shows the exam is moving smoothly and peacefully in all the centres across the country,” Okoro said.

During a visit to some of the CBT centres, candidates were observed taking part in the examination in an orderly manner.

One of the candidates at the Total Child Model College, Dutse, Mercy Luka, commended JAMB for ensuring that the mock examination went on as planned without any issue.

“The examination 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 asked,” she said.

The Star