JAMB English Language questions: Summary

7 questions with answers and explanations. Tap an option to check yourself.

1. Question 1· Summary· JAMB

   Examination malpractice is often described as a problem of dishonest students, but the truth is more uncomfortable. In many cases, the cheating is organised by adults: parents who pay for 'special centres', teachers who dictate answers to protect their school's reputation, and officials who look away for a fee. A student who grows up in such a system learns a dangerous lesson: that certificates can be bought and that effort is for fools. The consequences reach far beyond the examination hall. Employers soon discover that a graduate's result tells them little about what he or she can actually do, and the value of every certificate, including those earned honestly, falls. Computer-based testing has reduced some forms of cheating, but technology alone cannot restore trust. That requires adults who model honesty, schools that are rewarded for genuine learning rather than inflated results, and penalties that fall on organisers as heavily as on candidates.

   Which of these is the most suitable title for the second passage?

   • AMalpractice: An Adult Problem
   • BHow to Pass Examinations
   • CThe Wonders of Technology
   • DEmployers and Graduates

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   Explanation and discussion

2. Question 2· Summary· JAMB

   Social media has changed the way young Nigerians learn. A student in Maiduguri can now watch a chemistry lesson recorded in Lagos, join a study group with classmates across three states, and ask a question at midnight that someone answers before dawn. Critics, however, point to the cost. Notifications interrupt study time, and the endless scroll of entertainment can swallow hours that were meant for revision. Some teachers report that students who once read whole chapters now struggle to concentrate beyond a few paragraphs. The truth probably lies between these positions. Social media is a tool, and like a knife it can prepare a meal or wound the careless hand. Students who set clear limits, turning off notifications during study and following accounts that teach rather than distract, often find it a powerful ally. Those who let the platforms set the terms tend to lose the battle for their own attention. The question, then, is not whether students should use social media, but who is in control when they do.

   Which sentence best summarises the advice in the first passage?

   • AUse social media as much as possible.
   • BAvoid social media completely.
   • CUse social media with clear limits so that you stay in control.
   • DLet teachers decide how you use social media.

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3. Question 3· Summary· JAMB

   Read the passage and answer the question. Every August the river reminds the people of Ogbaru that it was here first. It climbs over its banks quietly at night, so that families wake to find the floor of the parlour shining like a mirror. Children treat the first day as a holiday; their parents count the bags of rice already soaked and calculate how many weeks of school fees have floated away. Engineers from the state capital have visited many times. They measure, photograph and promise. The embankment they describe in their reports would be tall and straight, a wall the river could not climb. But the reports, like the river, rise and fall with the seasons, and the wall remains a picture on paper. This year the community decided not to wait. Young men dug channels to guide the water away from the market, and women's groups raised money to lift the clinic onto concrete pillars. It is not the wall of the engineers' dreams, but when the water came, the clinic stayed dry and the market opened on Monday as usual. (An original passage written for AdmitMe practice.)

   The main point of the second paragraph of the Ogbaru passage is that

   • Aengineers are very skilled
   • Bofficial promises have not been fulfilled
   • Cphotographs are useful
   • Dthe river is straight

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4. Question 4· Summary· JAMB

   Read the passage and answer the question. When Mallam Sani first heard that he could send money to his son in Lagos with a few presses on a phone, he laughed. For forty years he had trusted only two things: the cattle in his pen and the bag of notes hidden under his mat. Money, he said, should be heavy enough to feel. His son, however, was patient. On his next visit he showed his father how a small agent's kiosk in the village could turn cash into a message and a message back into cash. The first transfer was only two thousand naira, sent to buy medicine for an aunt in Kano. When the aunt called to say the money had arrived before the bus that would have carried it could even leave the motor park, the old man was silent for a long time. Today the kiosk is the busiest place in the village after the mosque. Farmers receive payment for their grain before the lorry is out of sight; traders no longer travel with bundles of notes that tempt robbers on the highway. Yet Mallam Sani has not completely changed. He still keeps a few notes under his mat. 'A phone can lose its battery,' he explains with a smile, 'but paper does not need charging.' (An original passage written for AdmitMe practice.)

   Which title best suits the passage about Mallam Sani?

   • AThe Cattle Market
   • BThe Robbers of the Highway
   • CA Journey to Lagos
   • DFrom the Mat to the Mobile Phone

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5. Question 5· Summary· JAMB

   Read the passage and answer the question. Every August the river reminds the people of Ogbaru that it was here first. It climbs over its banks quietly at night, so that families wake to find the floor of the parlour shining like a mirror. Children treat the first day as a holiday; their parents count the bags of rice already soaked and calculate how many weeks of school fees have floated away. Engineers from the state capital have visited many times. They measure, photograph and promise. The embankment they describe in their reports would be tall and straight, a wall the river could not climb. But the reports, like the river, rise and fall with the seasons, and the wall remains a picture on paper. This year the community decided not to wait. Young men dug channels to guide the water away from the market, and women's groups raised money to lift the clinic onto concrete pillars. It is not the wall of the engineers' dreams, but when the water came, the clinic stayed dry and the market opened on Monday as usual. (An original passage written for AdmitMe practice.)

   Which statement best summarises the passage about Ogbaru?

   • AChildren enjoy the flood because it brings a holiday
   • BEngineers built a wall that stopped the flood
   • CTired of waiting for promised help, the community took practical steps against the yearly flood
   • DThe market closed for weeks because of the flood

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   Explanation and discussion

6. Question 6· Summary· JAMB

   In the crowded streets of Ajegunle, plastic bottles were once nothing but a nuisance. They blocked gutters, floated in floodwater and piled up beside every market stall. Then a group of young graduates, unable to find office jobs, began paying children a few naira for every kilogram of bottles they collected. The bottles were washed, shredded and sold to a factory that turned them into polyester fibre. Within two years the group employed thirty people, and the streets around their depot were noticeably cleaner. Not everyone was convinced. Some residents complained that the depot smelled, and a few landlords worried that the business would attract scavengers. The founders responded by moving the washing area indoors and inviting neighbours to visit. 'People fear what they do not understand,' one of them explained. 'Once they saw that we were cleaning their environment and paying their children, the complaints faded.' Today, the group is helping to start similar projects in other parts of Lagos. Their story suggests that a problem, looked at differently, may contain its own solution.

   Which sentence best summarises the first passage?

   • AChildren in Ajegunle are paid to go to school.
   • BPlastic bottles cause flooding in Lagos.
   • CLandlords stopped a recycling business.
   • DYoung people turned plastic waste into a business that also cleaned their community.

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7. Question 7· Summary· JAMB

   On the morning of her examination, Halima arrived at the CBT centre an hour early, clutching her registration slip as though it might blow away. The hall was already crowded with candidates, some revising from dog-eared notes, others staring blankly at the wall. When the doors opened, an official checked each face against a photograph and pointed candidates to numbered seats. Halima's computer flickered twice before the login screen appeared, and for one terrible moment she thought her chance had vanished with the electricity. But the generator roared to life outside, and the screen steadied. She read the first question three times before she understood it, and her heart sank. Then she remembered her brother's advice: 'Answer the questions you know first; the hard ones will still be there when you return.' She skipped ahead, found a comprehension passage she could manage, and felt her breathing slow. By the time the clock showed ten minutes left, she had answered every question and was checking her work. Walking out into the sunlight, she could not say whether she had done well. She knew only that she had not let panic make her decisions for her.

   Which sentence best summarises Halima's approach in the examination?

   • AShe answered the easier questions first and returned to the harder ones.
   • BShe guessed every answer.
   • CShe left the hard questions unanswered.
   • DShe asked the official for help.

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   Explanation and discussion