By: MAHFOUZ ADEDIMEJI
Yesterday, the announcement was made that JAMB cut-off marks for Universities and Polytechnics/ Colleges of Educations are 120 and 100 respectively. Rather than ask of or reflect on the rationale, many netizens began to react because the points fell short of their expectations. To some candidates, it was good news, 120 would get them admitted to any University of their choice in Nigeria! How wrong!
The truth is that a new JAMB is evolving. JAMB conducts RANKING exams, not QUALIFYING exams. A candidate that has his or her good Ordinal Level result (minimum of 5 credits in relevant subjects) is already qualified to be admitted to any institution of higher learning. What the JAMB result does is to rank such a candidate for the screening consideration of chosen institutions.
Institutions will fix their cut-off marks. Some universities will fix 200 or more, others will fix 180 or less based on their carrying capacity and merit of qualified candidates that applied to them. The ranked candidates by JAMB will be screened accordingly by such institutions.
The new Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) will ensure less wastage of qualified candidates. If you are not admitted here, your good ranking by JAMB can get you admitted elsewhere. Having good ranking is good but universities and other higher institutions will determine those to be admitted ultimately.
