2025 UTME: Students, parents lament delays, last-minute centre changes frustrations

Students and parents have lamented frustrations and chaos emanating from Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) which began on Thursday, April 24, across the country.

There have been reports of network and technical issues affecting the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) computer-based test (CBT) centers, potentially delaying or preventing candidates from taking the examination.

Many candidates who wrote their examinations on Friday, April 25,, described their experience as tougher than expected.

Some reported that questions, especially in Mathematics, Physics, and Commerce, were challenging, while Use of English was described as fair.

Ugonma Perpetual, who sat her UTME at Mount Gilead Convent at Igando in Lagos State, said that at her centre, the Use of English had problems, questions one to 10 did not show, but only answers, besides, the number of questions were more than what was stipulated. “Our English, it’s supposed to be one to 60 but it’s one to 65, and question one 10 didn’t appear.” she said.

Another candidate, who gave her name as Nmesoma, shared her worry after experiencing a technical issue during her examination where her computer turned off automatically before she could finish.

“My system automatically turned off on its own. Will my answers be submitted?” she asked.

Saviour Essien, shared a frustrating but sadly common experience during this year’s UTME, dealing with long delays despite arriving early.

“Imagine 6:30 am examination, I rushed so I didn’t miss it and I didn’t even eat.

But 6:30 am examination is 8:00 am,” he said.

Saviour’s story depicts the unseen struggles many candidates go through just to keep to time, only to be disappointed at the examination centre.

A candidate shared how system failure and poor arrangements caused massive delays and confusion at a center in Rochas Foundation School, Old Airport Road, Jos, Plateau State.

“Me too, I faced the same challenge in Jos, Plateau State at Rochas Foundation School, Old Airport Road. My examination was for 9am and I was there until 7:00am.

We waited for almost seven hours. They had to change our center, and we had to do another reprint. They sent us to another different center.

Some people who had less money couldn’t afford the transport from our original center to the new one because of system failure.

At the new center, we clashed with people who were supposed to write by 3pm. We waited for them till almost 5:30 pm and didn’t finish till 8pm

It was a disgrace, and the questions they gave us were not what we expected,” the candidate said.

Waiting for almost seven hours without writing. Being told to reprint new slips on the spot and move to a different center. Spending more money on unexpected transport to the new venue.

Facing another long wait at the second center, clashing with candidates scheduled for later sessions.

Candidates scheduled for 9AM had to wait until 3pm and even 5:30pm. Some couldn’t finish their exams until after 8pm, long after they were supposed to be done. The exam atmosphere was tiring, confusing, and disorganised.

Last-minute center changes without proper planning cause chaos and frustration. Poor candidates suffer even more when additional costs are suddenly thrown at them.

A parent lamented the frustration his daughter went through sitting the 2025 UTME, “My daughter had a similar problem at Mountain Top University CBT centre, Ogun State.

“She got to the centre early enough for the 2pm examination on Thursday, April 24. I learnt that when the examination started, about six of them, their computers couldn’t process successfully.

I learnt that the affected candidates drew the attention of the centre’s invigilators to move them to other free computers so that they could meet up with the timeline, but they weren’t given attention immediately.

Unfortunately, they kept telling them, “The challenge was from the JAMB network in Abuja,” he lamented

Further said the candidates were left sad, idle and unattended for 30 minutes while other candidates were already writing the same examination.

“I learnt these same invigilators decided to move them to other free computers after 30 minutes, a decision they failed to make while the candidates were lamenting.

What the invigilators only achieved was not making these kids have equal time for the same exam because the system logged off everyone at the same time when the exam ended,” he said sadly.