PREPARING FOR THE 2026 COMPUTER-BASED SSCE.

The Federal Government has announced that the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) will be computer-based as from 2026 (https://tribuneonlineng.com/no-going-back-on-transition-of-neco-waec-others-to-cbt-fg/ ; https://fmino.gov.ng/fg-unveils-full-transition-to-cbt-for-waec-and-neco-by-2026-commends-necos-pilot-scheme/) . The multiple-choice sections will be done as in the UTME, so most candidates can learn what to expect from their older brothers and sisters. However, the other sections (practicals, essays, comprehension and summary) will also be computer-based. How can the candidates, parents, schools, examination bodies , governments, etc prepare for a hitch-free exam next year? 

1. Students (beginning from SSS 1, if not earlier) should start using their holidays to learn typing at the computer centres near them. While most students can type and send text messages, emails, social media posts and comments, etc from their phones (and can therefore easily type their essay, comprehension and summary answers in the English Language papers), they need to learn how to type fractions, superscripts, subscripts, integral signs, matrices, vectors, chemical equations, etc and how to draw complex diagrams before they can type their answers correctly in Maths and other science subjects. What about typing Yorùbá answers with the right tonal marks? They need to undergo training in using Microsoft Office, Corel Draw, etc and typing with 10 fingers instead of 2 (for greater speed). Most smartphone Office apps (such as WPS Office) do not allow typing fractions, matrices, vectors, etc (which are on the laptop and desktop Office apps) but only allow subscripts, superscripts and some diagrams (with the help of screenshots and photo editing). Hence, students should be trained in the desktop and laptop Office apps. After all, they will write their exams on desktop or laptop computers, not on smartphones. Smartphones can, however, help them access and view videos (from YouTube, Tiktok, etc) on using these apps. 

2. Parents should buy smartphones for their children and enrol them for computer training during the holidays, as discussed above. Smartphones will also give them access to the online versions of Advanced Learners' dictionaries (which are always fuller than the print versions, which must be portable). They can find zillions of synonyms and antonyms for any word through Google-search links to thesauruses (special dictionaries containing synonyms, antonyms and related words). This will help them solve crossword puzzles (also obtainable online), which will help enrich their vocabularies.  

3. Schools should start exposing their students to computer-based exams from SSS 1. Assignments can even be typed on phones and sent to teachers' email boxes. This will improve their proficiency in typing. 

4. Exam bodies should record videos of some sample students writing the exams on computers and post the videos online. This will help prepare the less-exposed students in rural schools. It will also confirm the feasibility of the computer-based exam system before the exams begin.      

5. (a) The government (in conjunction with the power holding companies) should ensure a regular uninterrupted electricity supply to all the examination centres throughout the exams. (b) After equipping the public schools with computers and stable electricity, the govt should also provide subsidized e-libraries and computer centres in town for other people (including private school students) to patronize.

6. With the computer-based exam systems, school teachers will no longer need to find specimens for Agric and Biology Practical exams. Hence, no teacher will have a foreknowledge of the specimens his students will identify and answer other questions on. Each candidate's computer will bring pictures or videos of his or her own unique set of specimens. Therefore, each candidate should Google all the unfamiliar organisms, etc in the Agric and Biology syllabuses ahead of the exam, screenshot their pictures and store the pictures into a Practicals folder for constant viewing. The specimens can come from the ocean floor, the desert , the top of a tree, or any unfamiliar habitat within the scope of the syllabus. 

7. The first set of candidates should be given an extra hour or 2 to get used to the new system. This will reduce the public outcry.

8. Marked printouts of each student's scripts (along with his or her unique set of questions) should be scanned into the exam body's online database for concerned parties to consult after the results are released. This feedback system will ensure transparency and accountability. With time, e-marking can be done without having to print out the candidates' e-scripts.

BENEFITS OF THE COMPUTER-BASED EXAMS

1. Typing will shield students from the effects of an illegible handwriting and also help markers with poor eyesight to mark essay-type answers well.

2. The computer will ring most wrongly-spelt words and suggest probable correct ones. This will reduce candidates' spelling errors (at least in Arts subjects). Students should, however, beware of suggested corrections to scientific names.   

3. Students will be able to cancel errors and make corrections without making their scripts unsightly. 

4. Every candidate will get as much writing space as he or she needs, without being constrained by the lack of enough extra sheets.   

Happy preparation to all the concerned stakeholders. 

Every teacher should have a typed-questions bank.

The summary passage of the June 1998 WASSCE English Language paper describes how public exam bodies set their questions months or even years in advance, vet the questions and then store them securely for future use.  

In this smartphone and Internet age, every teacher can easily keep a bank of his or her past and future typed questions. This is especially important for teachers of Mathematics and other Science subjects (whose questions need careful typing and proofreading because of the subscripts, superscripts, fractions, matrices, vectors, diagrams, etc). They should submit their handwritten questions to the typist early and get the typed Word document sent to their smartphones for careful proofreading before printing. Otherwise, they will have to go and make the corrections right in the examination halls. Even then, the question papers will be unsightly.

After proofreading the Word document and making all the necessary corrections, send the document to the printer. Keep the edited document on your phone & upload it as an email attachment for future reference. Each new term, paste in your new set of edited questions and upload the new document as an email attachment again. You are gradually building up your typed exam questions' bank. 

You can create a future questions' bank by: (a) using your phone to take pictures of typed questions on paper, extract the text in those pictures (with Google Photos, etc) into your phone's keyboard clipboard, and paste those questions into a Word document for proofreading ; (b) copying the text of questions found online into a Word document for proofreading. If your handwriting is legible enough, you can convert pictures of your handwritten questions into typed text. Pictures can be photographed (from books) or screenshot (from the Internet) and inserted into the Word document. You can also use your phone to draw complex diagrams with the help of an Office app and a photo-editing app .

You are now ready to churn out quality questions even at short notice. Your used and new questions are already in typed form and can be selected, copied and pasted into a new document, rearranged and numbered to your taste, etc within 30 minutes and sent for printing. You are ready to beat any deadline and can now concentrate on writing your lesson notes, delivering the lessons, marking your students' scripts, etc. WPS Spreadsheet (or other equivalent apps) will help you calculate the sums and arithmetic means of many students' scores fast during the result collation stage.  

Most typists make silly typing mistakes while rushing to type many questions within a week or two. Assist both them and yourself by submitting your questions early, proofreading your typed questions on your phone or computer (while they continue typing other people's questions on their computer) and keeping a typed question bank document regularly uploaded to your email box for safekeeping. 

 

How to keep a permanent record of your Facebook friend requests

Once you accept a friend request, the notification "....wants to be
your friend" disappears forever from your Facebook page. How do you
keep a permanent record of your friend requests for future reference?

1. Enable email notifications by following these steps:
(a)Go to SETTINGS & PRIVACY/NOTIFICATIONS. (b) Select "All
notifications, except the ones you unsubscribe from" and click "Save".
*Henceforth, all Facebook notifications (including friend requests)
will be sent into your primary email address (as emails from Facebook
to you).

2. Sign in to your primary email address and do these:
(a) Create a folder/label named FACEBOOK FRIEND REQUESTS.
(b) Create a filter for FACEBOOK FRIEND REQUESTS so that all existing
and incoming emails with the words "...wants to be friends with you on
Facebook" will be automatically sorted into FACEBOOK FRIEND REQUESTS
folder/label.

* Long after a friend-request notification has disappeared from your
Facebook page, you can still retrieve it from your email box's Friend
Requests folder/label and know which friends added you and which
friends you added.

SOCIAL NETWORKING SAFETY TIPS

1. Don't reveal too much information about yourself. Your address
along with a brief post such as "We leave for vacation tomorrow!" is
enough to tell a thief where and when to strike. Other details ,such
as your email address,your full date of birth or your phone
number,could leave you open to harassment, bullying or identity theft.

2. What you post can be made more public than you intend (e.g. by likes, shares, comments, screenshots and screen recordings). Also,large
websites back up their databases. Deleted posts never truly go away;
there is a copy somewhere.  You can't delete the notifications of that deleted post from the email boxes of your friends, fellow group members, etc.

3. Mind what you post -- and what others post on your page. Both
reflect on YOU because it is YOUR page. Regularly review such posts.
Many people lose their jobs or get turned down for new jobs because of
the posts on their pages.

4. Befriend only those you know well outside the online world. If they run away after committing a crime, you should be able to direct the police to their parents' houses, mutual workplace'  boss, etc.  Don't
add as friend (or accept friend requests from ) strangers, even if
they are friends of friends.

5. If a friend starts posting objectionable pictures or status
updates,don't feel bad about deleting him/her.

6. Be thoroughly familiar with your social network's privacy settings
-- and use them. Regulate who can post on your page (friends only,
friends of friends, or everyone). Don't allow perfect strangers to
post on your page.

7. Sign out! If you leave your account signed in when you are not
present,others may post material on your page AS YOU. This is especially true
if you are using a shared computer, such as in a cyber cafe.

Make the most of your mobile phone (2)

The best way to safeguard your vital documents is to upload photographs of the documents into your email box. In the event of a fire incident or any other unforeseen disaster, you can walk into any cyber cafe and print out new copies. How does your phone come in?

After taking photographs of the documents with your phone, go to your email box via the phone. Compose an email and insert the photographs as attachments. Save the message as draft (if you have only one email address) or send the message to your other email address(es) if otherwise. For easy reference, create a MY DOCUMENTS folder (or label) in each of the email boxes and store the message there.

To print out new copies, go to a cafe and access your email box on the computer. Download and save the needed picture into the computer's MY DOCUMENTS. Open a Microsoft Word page,insert the picture into it, stretch the picture to fill the whole page and save. Then go and print.

Saving your documents into your email box this way also enables you to upload the documents when applying for scholarships, etc without having to pay extra money for scanning. Just download as above and upload into the desired web page.

NOTE: Never upload the pictures of your documents into Facebook or other sites that are accessible to the public. Otherwise, crooks can download the pictures and use the details to steal your identity.