2027 UTME: JAMB moves to block wrong subject combinations, introduce pre-registration app

…to deploy tougher biometric checks, allow candidates report faulty questions, rate CBT centres By Joseph Erunke, Abuja The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, is set to introduce sweeping technology-driven reforms ahead of the 2027 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, including a pre-registration mobile application, stricter biometric verification and a system that will automatically block candidates from selecting wrong subject combinations.

The reforms, which are aimed at reducing registration difficulties, preventing examination malpractice and strengthening the credibility of the admission process, will also give candidates access to vital admission information before making their course and institution choices. JAMB Registrar, Professor Segun Aina, disclosed the plans on Saturday in Abuja, saying the proposed pre-registration application would enable prospective candidates to complete key registration procedures from the comfort of their homes before visiting accredited centres for final registration.

Aina spoke after a five-kilometre fitness walk organised for the board’s staff as part of activities to prepare for the 2027 UTME. He explained that the application would allow candidates to retrieve their personal information from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), fill in their biodata, and select preferred subjects, courses, and institutions ahead of the actual registration.

According to him, the application would also provide candidates with advance academic guidance, including information on the previous year’s entry marks for their preferred courses. The initiative, he said, would help candidates make more realistic academic choices based on their abilities and available admission requirements, rather than making uninformed selections that could jeopardise their chances of securing admission.

“There are a lot of innovations that are coming up. Now we are rolling out what we are calling a pre-registration application. “It’s a mobile application that allows you, from the comfort of your own home, to get your details from NIMC, register with your biodata, select your subjects, your courses and your institution. “During that process, we will be giving some advanced advisory that we didn’t use to give before.

For instance, when you are trying to select a course, you will see an idea of what the entry marks for that course were in the previous year,” he said. The registrar said the application would significantly reduce the time candidates spend at registration centres, particularly during the capture of their biometric information. Beyond making registration easier, Aina said JAMB was also working on a system that would make it technically impossible for candidates to submit applications containing incorrect subject combinations for their chosen courses.

He noted that candidates had, in previous examinations, made subject selections that were incompatible with their preferred courses, sometimes creating avoidable difficulties in their admission pursuits. “We are going to make that technically impossible, which means you cannot progress with your application if the subject combination is wrong. And a lot of other innovations are coming,” he said.

On examination security, the JAMB boss said the board would strengthen biometric verification at examination centres to prevent impersonation, malpractice and other irregularities. He explained that although the board had introduced some concessions to reduce the difficulties candidates encounter when correcting their biodata, such flexibility would be matched with stricter identity checks during the examination.

“We have given up some ground and made some concessions to reduce trauma for the candidates in terms of being able to change their biodata and things like that. “And in exchange for that, we will be applying enhanced checks at the point of the examination to make sure that we protect the integrity of the system,” Aina stated. In another innovation, candidates sitting for the 2027 UTME will have the opportunity to report examination questions they consider faulty through a dedicated button on the computer-based test platform.

Aina said the feature would enable candidates to flag potentially defective examination questions in real time, allowing the board to investigate such complaints and determine whether the questions were properly framed. He, however, cautioned against the assumption that difficult questions were necessarily faulty, stressing that the proposed reporting mechanism would help JAMB obtain evidence-based feedback for assessing the quality of its examination items.

The board is also planning to introduce a post-examination rating system that will allow candidates to assess the quality of services provided by their respective Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres. According to the registrar, the feedback mechanism is intended to strengthen accountability among private sector partners operating the centr