Applicants' UTME Subjects analysis for JAMB2013. A study to determine if Candidates are drawn more to the Sciences in their choice of UTME Subjects.

1. JAMB 2013:
Analysis of Applicants’
UTME Subjects

2. Registration for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examination (UTME) 2013 by the Joint Admission
& Matriculation Board (JAMB) started in
November 2012 and ended on March 24th, 2013.
A total of 1,728,003 candidates applied to study
different courses in Nigerian Universities,
Polytechnics & Monotechnics, Colleges of
Education and Innovation Enterprise Institutions.
Candidates are tested in 23 different UTME
Subjects; however, each is to sit for 4 Subjects
with Use of English as compulsory subject for All
candidates.

3. The UTME Subjects are:
are:
Agriculture French Islamic Studies
Arabic Geography Lit.
Lit. in English
Art (Fine Art) Government Mathematics
Biology Hausa Music
Chemistry History Physics
Christian Rel. Know Home Economics Principle of Account
Commerce Igbo Use of English
Economics Yoruba
The Subjects chosen are determined by the
requirements stipulated in the JAMB Brochure for each
respective course
This study is carried out in order to observe, amongst
others, if there exist Candidates’ bias for Science-
Science-
study.
oriented subjects as they consider their course of study.

4. There are 3 Subject Areas in Nigerian Secondary
Schools:
Sciences Arts/Humanities Commercial
Students’ choices of which of the 3 they choose is;
based on; 1Performance in the Junior West African
Examination Council 2Performance in Senior
Council,
Secondary School Class 1, – where they are required
to take all subjects – 3Advice from school Counselors
and 4Students prerogative choice based on their
future career projection.
According to the groupings above, the UTME
Subjects can be divided as follows:

5. Sciences Faculties
Agriculture
Medical
Biology
Sciences
Chemistry Engineering
Mathematics Social Sciences
Physics Education
Geography Agriculture
Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics
Geography
= Engineering
Physical Sciences
Biology
Chemistry
Agriculture
= Medical
Biological Sciences
Agriculture
Use of English is
compulsory for all
Candidates.

6. Arts/Humanities
Arabic Faculties
Art (Fine Art)
Christian Rel. Know
Economics
French
Government
Arts/Humanities
Hausa Social Sciences
History Education
Home Economics Law
Igbo
Islamic Studies
Lit. in English
Use of English is
Music compulsory for all
Yoruba Candidates.

7. Commercial
Commerce Faculties
Economics Administration
Social Sciences
Mathematics
Education Use of English is
Principles of Accounts compulsory for all
Candidates.
In Summary:
Agriculture, Biology, Chemistry,
Sciences (6): Mathematics, Physics, Geography
Arabic, Art (Fine Art), Christian Rel. Know,
Arts/ Humanities Economics, French, Government, Hausa,
(14): History, Home Economics, Igbo, Islamic
Studies, Lit. in English, Music, Yoruba
Commerce, Economics, Mathematics,
Commercial (4): Principles of Accounts

8. Candidates’ Subjects Analysis
Of the 1.7million candidates who will be sitting for the
UTME 2013, UTME Subjects of 908,000+ candidates
with presence in all 37 Test States (FCT inclusive) were
extracted for analysis.
Subject:
Candidates Choice (%) per Subject:
Subject % Subject % Subject %
Mathematics 46.10 CRK 14.47 History 0.57
Chemistry 41.29 Commerce 12.02 Arabic 0.34
Government 39.13 Geography 4.31 Yoruba 0.19
Economics 38.65 Prin. of Acct 3.08 Fine Art 0.19
Physics 38.56 Agriculture 3.02 Igbo 0.17
Biology 26.93 Islamic Studies 2.51 Home Econ. 0.07
Lit. in English 15.77 Hausa 1.29 French 0.06
Music 0.03

9. The table shows that approximately 46.1% of
candidates chose Mathematics as one of their UTME
Subjects, Chemistry (41.3%), Government (39.1%),
Economics (38.7%), Physics (38.6%), Biology
(26.9%), Lit in English (15.8%), Christian Religion
Knowledge (14.5%) and Commerce (12.0%)
The down liners are Music (0.03%), French (0.06%),
Home Economics (0.07%), Igbo (0.17%). Fine Arts
(0.19%), Yoruba (0.19%), Arabic (0.34%) and History
(0.57%).
By the foregoing, it shows that more candidates
have considerable interest in the Sciences, and
Commercials.

10. Subjects %
Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology 26.9%
Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics 38.6%
Physics, Biology, Chemistry 26.9%
Economics, Government, Lit. in English 15.8%
Government, Economics, CRK 14.8%
Principle of Acct., Economics, Government 3.1%
The more candidates considers Subjects in the down
liners, the smaller the overall percentage

11. Students performance in the Sciences has not been
good even at Ordinary Levels(O/Levels); below is
the result released by the National Examination
Council (NECO) for the Nov/Dec 2012 examination:
the values show % of candidates with credit passes
English Language – 33.89%
33.89%
Mathematics – 54.79%
Arabic – 78.97%
From this result,
Biology – 22.84% performance is
Christian Rel. – 6.51% the 3 major
Economics – 33.67%
Geography – 1.63%
Science subjects
Literature in English – 0.73% are below 35%
Chemistry – 30.17%
Physics – 0.26%

12. Similarly, no information exist as to if any candidates
with Science UTME subjects have achieved a JAMB
score of at least 300, but this achievement is a piece of
cake for those in Arts and Commercial areas.
In JAMB 2009, a 16years old emerged with the highest
score of 310, followed by three others tied with a score
of 308.
Likely UTME Subjects Score Course
Mathematics, 310 Communications
Economics, IRPM
Government, Lit. in 308 Economics
English, History, etc. Hist. & Dip Studies
It was, however, noteworthy that none of the top
15, whose marks ranged between 298 & 310
applied to study the Sciences.

13. It is an indication that the quest to position Nigeria as
one of the Top20 World Economies with Science &
Technology as a tool for economic empowerment is not
yielding the desired result.
It is without doubt that Talents abides in our Schools,
but the hunger to become Scientists, Technologist,
Engineers and the likes is not being met with the right
infrastructures in our Schools and Industries.
If indeed Nigeria must be relevant, and compete with
other Nations Technologically, Scientifically and in the
Knowledge Economy; definite steps would be required
to ensure that Students are not only encouraged to
enrolled in the Sciences, but also provided the required
tools and learning aids in order to achieve great success
for self and the Nation.

14. Data source:
- JAMB
Analysis by: Wale Micaiah
e: walegate@yahoo.com
m: 08078001800
b: walemicaiah.blog.com
w. www.statisense.info
Freely share, freely use and freely acknowledge the source – © Wale Micaiah