How to Prepare For Post UTME in Nigeria

When I wanted to write my post UTME exam earlier this year, I checked online and most of the advice I got were not more than studying hard and all. I did not follow any of these but instead prepared for the Post UTME in my own way. I scored 78 percent in the results which was enough to get me my preferred course of study.

How can you do this or even better?

Read thoroughly through this article to understand how you can score very high marks in your Post UTME exam in Nigeria.

A post UTME exam is in fact very simple and does not require so much effort to pass. This is obvious in the fact that candidates are usually not given much time to prepare for the exam after registration.

There are certain things you must note while preparing for your Post UTME exam. The Post UTME exam was prepared to trim the number of students eligible for admission.

Some of the most subscribed schools in Nigeria like the University of Ilorin, the University of Lagos and others have to conduct post UTME exams to reduce the number of eligible candidates.

Universities with capacity of less than fifteen thousand often have up to fifty thousand or more applicants yearly. This is why Post UTME exams are conducted. Remember that the exam is to take you down so you must do all you can to pass the post UTME exam.

Follow the tips mentioned below to understand how to prepare for Post UTME exam in Nigeria.

How to Prepare for Post UTME in Nigeria

To prepare effectively for your post UTME exam, you need many days of study. Not necessarily studying your Chemistry texts.

Study your choice University

The first step is to understand how your chosen university operates and sets their Post UTME questions. For the University of Ilorin, post utme candidates are required to answer fifty questions in thirty minutes. What does this mean? Speed is an essence. For all CBT exams, you must be fast while doing the right thing. Some candidates answer many questions wrongly because of the haste.

Understanding the way questions are set gives you a huge advantage.

For UNILORIN Post UTME, the questions are set from English Language, General Paper, and Mathematics.

Questions from English language take up mostly 70% while general paper is 20% and the mathematics questions take up a little 10%. This is only an average figure as it is very possible that your questions are fifty percent English and General paper and maths questions take up the rest.

However, it is very likely that your questions are majorly from English language. So what you have to do is concentrate studying on English language. Dedicate about 55% of your study time to English language and divide the 45% equally for General Paper and Mathematics.

This is the most important process if you want to prepare for Post UTME exam in Nigeria. Remember that I am using the UNILORIN post UTME as a sample and your University Post UTME system could be different. All you have to do is study how the questions are set.

Study right

After understanding how your chose university sets their Post UTME questions, the next step is to study in the right way.

Still using the University of Ilorin as an example, the English language questions are majorly from topics like Concord, Synonyms and antonyms, lexis and structure, register and a few others.

Remember not to study so much past questions for your English language. It will easily get you confused.

Study the topics very thoroughly first. This is a very common mistake usually made by most Post UTME candidates.

Always read thoroughly before answering past questions.

Make sure to understand all the rules of concord, study many words, their meaning, synonyms and antonyms.

After studying, proceed to answer past questions. You should solve more than five hundred in sets of fifty to test your progress and make sure that you understand the topics.

If you answer more than three hundred and fifty of the questions correctly then you only have to study a little harder to endure that you pass your Post UTME exam.

Join Study Groups

Whenever you have an external exam, always remember that you cannot do it alone. Joining study groups will help you meet other candidates and understand how they are preparing for the Post UTME exam.

This goes for JAMB exams too. You can join telegram groups where there are lots of tips and tricks and whatsapp tutorials.

There are so many groups that conduct tutorials every year for Post UTME candidates.

Some of these tutorials are held by intelligent students that are already in the same institution you applied for admission.

Do not join more than five study groups so as not to get confused. Members that take their Post UTME exams a day or two before you can give you tips and helpful advice.

Remember that you should not study only based on what you hear from a friend.

Join Brainstorming sessions

This should be after you have done your personal studying. After you cover all the topics and practiced past questions, the next thing is to join brainstorming sessions.

These brainstorming sessions happen mostly on whatsapp groups at stipulated periods every day. You can learn from intelligent candidates and improve on your studies while answering questions.

If you do this for two weeks before your exam you have a higher percentage of passing your Post UTME exams with high grades. Remember to always refer to your text books when you get questions wrong.

Study for many hours in a day

When it is about two or three weeks to your post UTME exam, studying many hours a day will do more than just help you pass the exam.

To do this, you must keep in mind that the Post UTME determines whether you will be offered admission or not. If you intend to study very competitive courses like Medicine, Pharmacy, Law or Engineering, you must score a high percent in your Post UTME so a few weeks of extra study will not be bad.

If you are able to, study more than seven hours every day. You can take a twenty-minute break after each hour to keep you interested.

Get enough sleep too every day to keep your brain prepared for another study session.

Reduce other activities

If you are a gamer, you can suspend or minimize your gaming activities for some time. Playing games for more than four hours a day will not help you in any way. If you also enjoy watching movies you can promise yourself to watch two new series after passing your Post UTME exam.

Reduce the time you spend on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media apps.

The thing is that your smartphone is the biggest distraction as well as most important factor when you are preparing for the Post UTME. There is a feature on most phones that helps you to focus when you need to carry out important tasks.

Under Digital Wellbeing, you can click on focus mode and select the apps that are distracting and save. When you turn on focus mode, the apps stop working and you can easily do whatever you want without the distractions.

For smartphones that do not have this feature, download apps that will help you focus and install. These apps have the same functions as the featured settings on smartphones.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Here are some questions you may have about how to prepare for Post UTME in Nigeria and their answers:

Conclusion

Post UTME exam is an examination that candidates must not fail as it can deny them admission easily.

Preparing hard and using the above tips will ensure success in the exams. Remember to eat well and have enough sleep to keep your brain in perfect condition before the exam. Also revise your study on the day before your exam.