JAMB weighs adding life skills, critical thinking to UTME
- JAMB is considering testing life skills and critical thinking in the UTME, its registrar Prof. Segun Aina said.
- A committee led by Prof. Boniface Nworgu will advise on how the skills could be assessed, with no final decision yet.
- Aina also said UTME scores rank candidates against peers rather than measure intelligence, and announced easier profile corrections.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is considering adding life skills and critical thinking to the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the test millions of Nigerian students sit each year for university admission.
JAMB Registrar Prof. Segun Aina disclosed the plan on Wednesday, according to several reports. He spoke on the Nigerian Television Authority's Good Morning Nigeria programme, and also met UTME candidates at the board's Abuja zonal office during JAMB's 2026 Customer Week.
Aina said the aim is to assess candidates beyond how well they answer questions in academic subjects, looking at how they reason, make decisions and apply knowledge to real-life situations.
No final decision yet
A committee of education stakeholders and experts has been set up to work out how the skills could be tested. Tribune reported that the committee is headed by psychometrician Prof. Boniface Nworgu.
The panel will decide whether the skills should be a separate part of the exam or built into existing UTME subjects. It will also judge whether they can be measured reliably before sending recommendations to JAMB management.
Aina stressed that no final decision has been made. If the recommendations are approved, JAMB would set up another panel of experts to design how the changes would work. He said the idea is not to replace current academic requirements but to explore extra ways of checking whether candidates fit their chosen courses.
He used medicine as an example, saying doctors need sound judgement and an understanding of the consequences of their decisions, not just technical knowledge.
What your UTME score really means
Aina also moved to clear up confusion about the minimum entry score, saying it is not a measure of how knowledgeable a candidate is but a way of ranking them against their peers.
"It is not how good you are that your JAMB score speaks to. It is more about how you rank against others,"
he said, according to the reports.
He explained that the score depends on how the whole set of candidates performed in a given year. "If you are in a cohort of JAMB candidates where everybody scores above 300, then 299 will suddenly start to look like a very low score," he said.
For candidates, the board also announced relief on personal details. Those who have lost access to the phone number or email they registered with can now change them through JAMB's procedures.
A National Identification Number (NIN) alignment process will also let candidates correct details with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and then match them to their JAMB profiles. Aina said names and dates of birth could not be changed before, leaving thousands of people stuck even after finishing their degrees.
He warned that anyone trying to use the process to fraudulently change their identity would face the law.
JAMB also said candidates awaiting admission will now get more detailed updates on their status instead of generic messages like "not admitted" or "admission in progress".
What happens next: The Nworgu committee is expected to submit its recommendations to JAMB management. Candidates can check JAMB's website and social media pages for details on the new procedures.
