2022/23 UTME: How I emerged top scorer — Precious Umeh opens up
The 2022/23 UTME exam top scorer, Miss Precious Umeh, who finished from the Deeper Life School, Moye, Ogun State was a guest on The Morning Show, on Arise News Television on Friday.
Miss Umeh scored a total of 360 marks out of 400, having scored 99 in Chemistry, 98 in Mathematics, 97 in Physics and 66 in English.
She came on board after the controversy raised by 19-year-old Mmesoma Ejikeme who had claimed to have scored 362 marks, a claim that has since been disproved by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB which organised the examinations.
On the special thing she did to emerge top, she said, “I think the most special thing I did was praying. I prayed a lot. I started preparation for the UTME the moment I entered SS3. I started reviewing past questions, reading my books. You know in Deeper Life High School, we had lots of classes, tests and mock exam. They tried to get us to use our time well.
“Personally, I read my books, solved a lot of past questions trying to familarise myself with the kind of questions that they could bring out. I prayed too.
“My reading habit, in school we have set times, in the morning, in the afternoon and in the night. We call them preps. So, there is morning, afternoon and night preps. That’s where I do majority of my reading. After the night prep, I do a little reading in the night from 30 minutes to one hour.”
Asked about her school, given that the school also had five other students who scored 340 and above, she said: “Let me start with the teachers. We have excellent teachers. I have never seen teachers like the ones we have in my school. They are so willing, they want us to succeed and they are willing to make any sacrifice… some of them, they come over to the school, leave their houses sometimes as early as 5.00 a.m. and can go home as late as 9 or 10 in the night just trying to teach us, drill us, so that these children are set and prepared for the exam.
“For the school environment, we are very involved in spiritual activities. We pray, we have services, and I will say the environment is good for us.
“The school is always trying to provide for us making sure that we are okay, morally, physcailly and health wise.
“Despite her love for literature, Miss Umeh insisted that she would remain a lady of the sciences.
“I am going to UNILAG but I am actually considering other options but UNILAG remains my first choice for university, and then I am going to study Chemical Engineering and after that I am looking forward to a Masters outside the country and then my PhD outside the country.”
