MY JAMB CBT EXPERIENCE

My CBT Experience

On that Tuesday morning, my heart was beating like that of an athlete that had just finished running a Marathon. I tried to focus but the noise from other students who were standing beside me made it even more difficult. Just then my eyes rested on the face of a girl who was looking more like an angel. Naughty thoughts started flying into my head. I thought of what it would be like to have her as my girl friend. I even imagined what it would look like to plant my lips on hers. The mere thought of kissing her succulent lips which was dabbed in red lipstick filled me with goose pimple. What would those lips taste like? I thought.
I was jerked out of thought by a pudgy–looking man who, standing very close to me, shouted, “Good morning students! You’re all welcome to this centre. As you’ll be going in for your exam very soon, we urge you to play by the rule. Please be informed that you’re not required to go into the hall with anything, even your wristwatch…” The man went on to instruct us on what we should and shouldn’t do. It was then it dawned on me that I was in for a serious business_____ JAMB CBT Examination.
When the man was done, I lifted my eyes but couldn’t see that Seraphic figure I had seen earlier. I made a little effort at searching for her with my eyes but she was nowhere to be found. Then, I decided to channel my thought towards remembering all that I had read in the course of preparation for the Exam.
Standing on a queue as we waited to be searched and ushered into the hall, I started thinking about the character, Jimi, in The Last Days at Forcados High School “Is there anyone who’s really that smart?” Jimi was so much a perfect character that I disliked his person. He is so much unlike me who had had to write JAMB four times. Yes, I’m very good in sports but academically I will like to rate myself as average. I had always wanted to study Law but JAMB and PUTME won’t just let me be. They have been the two enemies that kept conspiring against me since I left Secondary school. Imagine, yours truly had written JAMB three times, and on that fatefully Tuesday morning I was on the queue for the fourth JAMB. To make matters worse, it was going to be CBT. Probably because JAMB had earlier said that starting from 2015 her exams would be computer based for all candidates, I did not joke with my preparing. Also I promised myself that I wasn’t just going to get admission; I would, in the near future be one of the best Lawyers this country would ever see.
I have often heard people say that one becomes a failure when he stops trying. In that vein, I think I’m already a success because I refused to give up all those years. And, I won’t stop trying until a University in this country (preferably the university of Nigeria, Nsukka) gives me admission to study law. Be that as it may, on the eve of the day I wrote JAMB this year, my dad came into my room and told me that this will be the last time he would have to give me money for JAMB exam. This was after mum had come to encourage me and wish me the best. She even said she was impressed with the way I had been preparing and that God’ll see me through this time around. My dad is so much unlike my mum. In fact, in dad’s exact words he said, “if you like go there and mess up again. All I know is that if you don’t get admission this year then get ready because I’ll be sending you to my friend in Onitsha where you’ll learn a trade.”
Having been threatened or should I say cautioned by my father, I went to my centre the next morning feeling very scared. And, in a bid to assuage my fears God sent me a very pretty girl who, unfortunately I never got to know her name even when fate gave her to me on a platter. Providence, they say, sometimes meets people when they least expect it.
The journey to my CBT center, of course did not end on the queue where I was bored listening to a pudgy-looking man. Guess what? When I entered the hall and had seated in front of my computer, the next person that showed up beside me was that petty damsel I had seen outside. A cold chill ran down my spine. My seat number was 76 while hers was 77. The moment she sat down something told me that Cupid had something in stock for me. However, I decided to pretend like I did not notice her until I was through with my exam. The things my dad told me the previous night about this being my last JAMB were echoing in my ears.
Within what seemed like an hour after we had started exam, that pretty girl tapped me on the shoulder and asked, almost in a whisper, if I knew the answers to a question in literature. She said she had not read the novel. I think it was a question from Chimamanda’s Purple Hibiscus. Of course I hastily attended to her and even more or less pleaded with her to call my attention any time she needs me. Tufia! Women have so much influence over us the male counterparts.
To cut long story short, although I’m unlike Jimi, the young man who portrayed as an academic giant in The Last Days At Forcados High School, I helped my pretty neigbour as much as I could. Incidentally, she wrote exactly my subject combination but I discovered that she’s not that good with Christian Religious knowledge. Honestly, I really thank God that I prepared thoroughly for that exam if not I would have embarrassed myself before that angelic figure.
While in the hall, I had already strategized on how to get her phone number the moment we finished. My heart was leaping with Joy as I concluded the exam. Probably because I wasn’t computer literate, that pretty girl who I suppose grew up with a silver spoon in her month submitted before me. Out of courtesy, she told me that she was leaving but then that pudgy-looking fellow standing very close to us as he tried to help sort out my computer issues. I smiled and told her I would meet her outside in a jiffy. Guess what happened after then?
Just in a space of a minute or two I rushed outside after submitting only to see that lovely girl entering a Murano Jeep. I beckoned on her, and when I got closer a woman who I suppose was her mum was sitting on the driver’s seat. She had this prying look in her eyes. At that moment I became confused and the next thing was that I heard myself asking the girl if she finished. She smiled radiantly and said yes. I didn’t know how to go about asking her for her number in front of her mother so, I simply wished her the best. I can’t even believe that my voice was quivering while I did that. In fact, it was as if my senses took leave of me when I sighted the mean-looking woman.
The woman behind the wheel did not utter a single word. The look in her eyes was threatening so I tried to avoid eye contact with her. It dawned on me a little late that I had not greeted her, but when I did she did not respond. Instead she drove off with her daughter waving and smiling at me. Honestly, I felt like running after the car.
Well, I have gotten over that incident. At least, if not for anything the JAMB score I received via a text the next morning was rewarding. All I’m asking God now is to give me the same grace he gave me when I was preparing for JAMB. I need the same grace to get myself ready for PUTME. Also, I’m hoping that that pretty damsel who sat beside me during JAMB would show up on my PUTME day. Funny enough I didn’t also get the opportunity of asking her the school she applied.
God Bless 2015 JAMB Candidate!!!
Written By Kaodilichukwu

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