I passed my WAEC exam on my first try. When my friends told me the results were out, I was really scared to check because I was so nervous. One morning, before going to the mosque to pray, I mustered the courage to check. To my delight, I saw that I had passed. I was so happy that I ran into my mom's room with joy on my face and told her the good news. She celebrated with me.
Next on my list was applying for JAMB. I started preparing for JAMB by studying hard and getting focused.
I tried studying hard because I knew if I could pass my WAEC on my first try, I could also pass my JAMB. That's all I wanted for myself.
My goal was to become a Civil Engineering student in the university, and nothing else mattered to me. It was the last paper-based exam before JAMB switched to CBT testing.
On the day of the exam, I went to the exam hall with courage, hoping to pass it just like I passed my WAEC on my first try.
The day I have been waiting for arrived, proceeded to checking of my result.
What I saw was devastating. I was shocked to see that I scored 197. I asked myself, where would 197 lead me to? Oh, my goodness, this wasn't what I was expecting, despite all my preparations. Then, I waited for when JAMB announced the cut-off marks for all universities. They announced 180 as the cut-off mark, but I knew that my dream university (UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN) would not accept 180 unless I wanted to deceive myself. I was advised to change my institution to FUNAAB, as the school was one of those that accepted 180 that year, which I did.
FUNAAB called for post-JAMB. I got the form and went there to write the exam. It was a CBT test. While writing the exam, I was happy because the questions were easy for me to answer. I finished the exam with a smile on my face, hoping for a positive result. Weeks later, I checked my result and found out that I scored 0.
The shame was clear on my face that anyone could easily see what was wrong at that moment. How could I possibly score 0 in a post-JAMB test? I asked myself. Days later, I received a text saying that those who scored 0 should report to the school immediately. I went back to Abeokuta. I didn't realize there were many of us who had seen 0 as our result. Seeing the crowd gave me a glimmer of hope, and my mind felt calm. We submitted our details, and they assured us that in 2 working days, we would all see our original results. Till today, I haven't seen any result other than 0. I waited for another year to write JAMB. This time, I didn't prepare like the first attempt. I scored below 200 again, getting 199. It was the first JAMB CBT test, but my dream of entering my dream university still didn't work out. So, I opted for polytechnic screening and was given admission into The Polytechnic Ibadan.
After 2 years of my ND program, I applied for direct entry into FUTMINNA, hoping this time I become a university student. I went to Minna, wrote the CBT test, and the result came out. I scored 300 out of 400. I was so happy because my friends who wrote this same test into FUTMINNA a year before me scored 200+. I confidently thought, "There's no way FUTMINNA won't give me admission, especially with my upper credit on my ND certificate. That's a huge boost for me."
However, when the admission list came out, I still didn't get admission. I lost all hope that year and told myself I'm done with university screening.
After that, I proceeded with my HND program. Thank God, I became a graduate.
Only God knows why I struggled to become a university graduate. All my efforts to graduate with a B.Eng instead of HND were because of Nigeria's discrimination between these two certificates.