Does the word “EXAMS” rises your anxiety? Well In this report, sourced from Sean_Tearney article, we would show you how to overcome fear of exams, improve concentration and build overall performance.

Lets Begin….

1 ) Stick To The Plan:
If you have a lot of exams coming up it is very crucial that you set a revision time-table that will allow you to cover the subjects weeks before the exams.

Identify the subjects you know you are weaker on and tackle them first. Doing this will lessen your panic when the exams approach closer! Part of the plan is to also keep socializing and sleeping to rest your neurons! Don’t leave everything to the last minute and study 23 hours a day.

2 ) Be Realistic:
If you’ve always been a scoring C in your courses, probabilities are may not get an A! So its best you don’t set unrealistic goals like scoring an A all through, doing that could set your anxiety levels up.

You should remember that, your best is all you can do, so don’t expect anything better. Take things as they are, so that you could study at best efficiency.

3 ) Physical Exercise:
Fitness is always necessary in whatever you do, so you really need to have some good body feelings to be able to study well. Take regular study breaks and get some fresh air or exercise.

Oxygen is the best medicine for your brain when it comes to memory retention and concentration. You can only really absorb information for about 20 minutes at a time, so to give the things you’ve learnt time to sink in, take a 15 minute break, go for a run or walk and get some air into your lungs, you could go sit around campus or anything cool do to.

4) Attempt Past Exams:

This should give you an idea of the kinds and levels of questions that are going to come up. If you can’t do a particular question take it to your teacher (or private tutor) and ask them to work through it with you. Treating past questions, will prepare you for the coming ones!

5 ) Understand, Don’t Just Memorize:

Its best you don’t memorize With topics like mathematics and sciences, passing requires absolute understanding. Questions in exams are generally designed to find out if you understand the course material rather than if you just have a good memory. They’re not looking to see how much your memory can store, but how much your brain can understand in time!

6) Avoid Drugs and Caffeine:

Caffeine and other stimulants won’t help you concentrate. You may think it is helping you endure more, but beneath it, your body is over stressed and this could react during your exams or perhaps even on your brain. Just stick to water to keep yourself, and your brain hydrated!

7 ) Work Smarter, Not Harder!:

Repeatedly reading through massive amounts of text isn’t going to do you any good at all. Its best you pick a note/jotter to keep some highlights  which you need to remember or understand.Make sure you go over them at least 3 times over the space of a few days to cement them in your memory.

8 ) Relax In Exams:
If you are panicking or struggling with a particular question in the exam situation just take a moment to re-orient yourself, make sure you are comfortable, close your eyes and take 3 or 4 long, slow deep breaths. Move onto another question and more often than not, when you’re thinking about something else entirely the answer or idea you were looking for will magically pop into your head!

I also think you should revise this again, I wish you flying colors in all your examinations!

A survey recently conducted by the NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES COMMISSION (NUC) revealed that there are over 40 illegal universities operating as conventional institutions in Nigeria.

Institutions which claim to have their main campuses abroad in countries like Ghana, Benin Republic, united Kingdom and the United States have been found to be operating illegally in the country, without any accreditation by the Nigeria NUC.

We seek you to be warned!

I never cease to wonder how a man, or woman, can, with eyes wide open, choose to embark on a journey to nowhere. Or how else can one describe people in their correct senses, paying to receive lectures from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at a public primary school in Abuja? - allAfrica.com:

Students and candidates applying for Degree and other Conventional Programmes are strictly adviced to stay away from such universities as degrees and other qualifications obtained from such institutes are regarded as falsified documents and incriminating and could lead to a jail term.

We manage to dig through for the list of the illegalised universities, so you may take note.

S/No.                            Name                                                                              Location

1.  Christians of Charity American Uni. of Science and Tech.

2.  University of Industry                                                                        Yaba, Lagos

3.  Uni. of Applied Sci. Port Novo, Benin Republic                       Nigerian Campus

4. Blacksmith University                                                                         Awka, Anambra

5. Volta University College, Ghana                                                     Nigerian Campus

6. Royal University Izhia                                                                       Abakaliki, Ebonyi

7. Atlanta University                                                                              Ayingba, Kogi

8. Sunday Adokpela University, Otada Adoka                             Otukpo, Benue

9. United Christian University,  Macotis Campus                       Imo

10. United Nigeria University College                                             Okija, Anambra

11. Samuel Ahmadu University, Makurdi                                      Benue

12. UNESCO University, Ndoni                                                           Rivers

13. Saint Augustines University of Technology                           Jos, Plateau

14. the International University, Missouri, USA                 Kano & Lagos campus

15. Collumbus University, UK                                                     Nigerian Campus

16. Tiu International University, UK                                       Nigerian Campus

17. Pebbles University, UK                                                          Nigerian Campus

18. Aston University, UK                                                              Nigerian Campus

19. London External Studies, UK                                               Nigerian Campus

20. Pilgrims University                                                                  Nigerian Campus

21. Lobi Business School, Makurdi                                            Benue

22. West African Christian University                                     Nigerian Campus

23. Bolta University College, Aba                                              Abia

24. JBC Seminar Inc. Wukari Jubilee University                Kaduna Campus

25. Westlan University, Esie                                                        Kwara

26. St. Andrew’s University College, Abuja                           FCT

27. EC-Council University, USA                                                 Lagos Study Centre

28. Atlas University, Ikot_Udosa Uko                                    Uyo, Akwa Ibom

29. Concept College/University, London                              Ilorin, Kwara

30. Halifax Gateway University, Ikeja                                     Lagos

31. Kingdom of Christ University, Abuja                                FCT

32. Acada University, Akinlalu                                                   Oyo

33. Fifom University, Mbaise                                                       Imo

34. Houdegbe North American University                            Nigerian Campus

35. Atlantic Intercontinental University, Okija                   Anambra

36. Open International University, Akure                             Ondo

37. Middle Belt Uni. (North Central Uni), Otukpo               Benue

38. Leadway University, Ughelli                                                Delta

39. Metro Univerisity, Dutse                                                       Bwari, FCT

40. Southend University, Ngwu Egeru                                    Ndoki, Rivers

41. Olympic University, Nsukka                                                Enugu

For more Information on Nigerian Universities that are legally approved by NUC to carry out Degree and other Conventional Programmes, please visit http://www.nuc.edu.ng

Source: National Universities Commission, NUC

I am taking a case study of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) and one of my main focus is the feasibility of getting an admission into the University!

From the question papers I examined, the exam was pretty up to standard for my recognition, that’s a plus. I study Physics in the same university and I will really say the Physics part of the post-ume science is really A-Level, no doubts!

Every candidate was expected to answer four (4) subjects just like they did with JAMB. But here, each subject had 4 questions, which obviously means 5marks for each question. Notably, according to their pledge, each student is expected to have an aggregate score of 40marks to qualify for an admission.

So I’d finally say that for those who wrote the exam… If you answered  minimum of 2 questions correctly for each subject, you’re on a high chance of admission for the 2010/11 session! Anything bellow this, means you’re doomed!

It appears the university is taking a 40% pass as the admission cutoff point which alright, but what if more students than they expected crossed the 40% silver-line? That means, your JAMB Score will come to play! So, if you passed post-ume, you are also required to have passed above average the JAMB Examination.

Share your views by commenting, Thank you

Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto has approved the schedule for the conduct of post-utme screening exercise for the 2010/2011 session. Candidates who made UDUS as their first and second choices with a score of 180 and above are invited to the screening exercise as scheduled:

Date: Friday 6th, and Saturday 7th August 2010
Venue: Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Main Campus, Sokoto
Time: 8:00am

The University Management requires each candidate to come along with a Bank Draft of N1,000 payable to any reputable bank, and addressed to “Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto“.

For further details please visit: http://www.udusok.edu.ng/post-utme-advert.php

Wishing you the best of luck!

The Management of University of Maiduguri is inviting all candidates who chose UNIMAID as their first and/or second choice(s) during the 2010 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and also scored 180 and above to a screening exercise scheduled as follows:

Date: Friday 6th and Saturday 7th August 2010
Venue: Unimaid Campus
Time: 8:00am

All qualified candidates are required to pay a non refundable administrative charges of N 1,000 to the University management.

Other requirements include:

1. Original and photocopy of 2010 UTME notification result slip
2. HB Pencil and Eraser
3. Two recent passport sized colored Photograph with name of candidate written on reverse side
4. Bank teller and/or Unimaid Bursary receipt for the payment of N1,000 admin charges
5. Originals and Photocopies of other credentials

No GSM handsets, iPod, Walkman, Calculators or any electronic gadget should be brought into the screening venues.

For more information, please check national dailies, Daily Sun Wednesday July 28, 2010 page 35

Dufil Prima Foods Plc, makers of Indomie instant noodles announced the commencement of their 2010 Indomie National Post Graduate Nutrition Scholarship Awards, this could be part of the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives in the area of educational empowerment.

According to sources, this is the second phase of the Indomie M.Sc Awards. The Public Relations/Events Manager of Dufil Plc stated that they are assisting and collaborating with selected Nigerian Universities in the training of high level Nutrition and Dietetics professionals, and overtime they will produce a critical number of highly trained nutritionists that will regulate an optimum nutrition for all Nigerians.

The Scholarship is open to all Nigerian Students qualified for admission to do M.Sc programme in Nutrition and Nutrition/Dietetics in the Nigerian Universities. Awards will be given to qualified and suitable students from every geopolitical zone of the Federation including FCT.

However, eligible Candidates are to apply in Writing according to the Banners, giving the following information.

Application Criteria:

• Full names
• Photocopy of Admission Letter into the programme
• Application for Admission
• credentials with details of educational history
• evidence of state of origin duly signed by Chairman or Secretary of appropriate Local Government.

NOTE: The completed document should be enclosed in an A4 envelop and should be marked ‘APPL 2010 AWARD’ on the top left corner addressed to the Cordinator, Dufil Nutrition Awards Programme, P.O Box 1983, Sapon Abeokuta, Ogun State or through e-mail to acadaservices@gmail.com on or before July 30th 2010

The Vice Chancellor, University of Maiduguri, Prof. (Alhaji) Mala Mohammed Daura in a media chat with journalist over the weekend disclosed that there will be no room for students who appoint themselves as permanent ambassadors of faculties, and would not want to graduate, stressing that the university has innovated a new and dynamic strategy to handle professional and permanent students in the institution.

He pointed out that the university has identified among other things, several students who claim permanent admission and are not willing to graduate, he further concluded that the management would no longer allow such students to stay beyond their constitutional academic period as prescribed in the rules and regulations of the university. the VC, whose tenure is still up to the minute, has resolved to enforce rules and regulations guiding studentship even as he maintained that the move was designed to sanitize the system.

He also noted with kin interest that the management has overtime, tolerated this behavior of recycling students by allowing them to move from one department/faculty to the other in Unimaid.

“This means that when a student is admitted, he or she must have a maximum period for graduation. If such student could not graduate within the specified time for the course, the student can only be allowed to only stay for two years more, the law says if your course is four years, the maximum year you can stay is six and if you do not finish up the programme, you will be shown the way out, that is the situation now and there is no permanent student again,” – Prof Daura.

Prof. Daura also noted that the institution which was initially established to address the problems of tetiary education for students in the North Eastern states has fulfilled its mandate but noted that the vision of its founding fathers has been manipulated over time.

The VC, stated that the management is ready to make sure those students who are not ready to graduate give way for the serious ones because UNIMAID is one of the six universities selected for special intervention project by the Federal Government, as such the university will not afford to loose such an opportunity, and once these projects are executed successfully in the six universities in the country, they will have similar modern equipments to compete with any international standard, and will not need to travel out for any analysis. The project is being handled by Education Trust Fund of Nigeria, ETF.

University of Maiduguri is located in Borno state, a province in far North Eastern Nigeria, an appellation of an environment of learning in the desert. Traditionally and affectionately referred to as UNIMAID, it maintains indubitably the most imperative instrument of coming to terms with innovation and technological advancement in the Sahara. More on Maiduguri

Unimaid was established in the late 20th century previously known as North Eastern College of Art and Science (NECAS) in the 1970’s. The need for the creation of the institution then, became indispensable as Maiduguri was known for its civility long before colonization, hundreds of years ago.

The university society is over 30, 000 in population taking it far beyond catchment area administration to a world class reservoir of knowledge.

Some notable personalities in Unimaid include; Emeritus Umar Shehu, Prof. Sunday Bwala,  Prof. Abba Waziri Hassan  Prof. Jubril Dahiru Aminu, Prof. Balla of Space Mathematics to name a few.

Some major colleges in the University includes; The Medical College, College of Science, College of Engineering, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences, College of Law, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Veterinary and Agriculture.

The University is residential for both staff and students, over 10,000 students stay on campus, while various off-campus accommodations very close to the university community is available at a run of the mill for students willing to maintain an off campus apartment. Students mostly come from ICT Schools around Nigeria and the rest of the world not limited to London and France.

Municipal services provided on campus include Retail Outlets, Clinic, Post-Office, Banks, Pharmacy and Schools (Nursery, Primary and Secondary). Several recreational facilities exist for the University community like Sports Arena, Senior Staff Club, “Love Garden” (ideal for picnics walks) all through the academic year, but particularly at the beginning and at the end of the academic session.

Spiritual needs are catered for in magnificent places of worship: the Central Mosque, the Ummah Mosque, the All-Saints Catholic Chapel, and the protestant Chapel of Grace.

The Official Site of Unimaid is at http://www.unimaid.edu.ng/

It appears the Alumi of the University have are also gathered on a Facebook Group.

Delta state university (DELSU) has announced the date for its post ume exercise. The exercise is to take place from July 7th of 2010 till 9th of July 2010.

The following information was curbed from the schools website (http://www.delsung.net/postume2010-2011.aspx), it entails the timetable and the instructions for candidates.

This is to inform all candidates who chose Delta State University, Abraka (DELSU) as 1^st and/or 2^nd
Choice in the 2010 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTEM) and scored 180 and above that
they are invited to the University’s screening exercise scheduled as follows:

SUBJECTS FOR SCREENING:

SUBJECTS FOR SCREENING:
Candidates will be screened for knowledge in the relevant UME subjects for their chosen course of study.

REQUIREMENTS:

1.            Candidates are required to purchase scratch card of N1,000 (One Thousand Naira only) from any of the branches of the
Oceanic Bank Plc Nationwide and pay into:
Account Name:  DELSU SCREENING ACCOUNT
Account No.  0831301005291.

2(a) Candidates should, with the scratch card, access and complete the Delta State University, Abraka 2010 Post UME
Screening Form on-line at http://www.delsuonline .com with their recent coloured passport-size photograph scanned into
the Form in JPEG format and not more than 20kb in size.

2(b) Candidates are advised to read the instructions on the front page of the website before completing the form.

3.   Candidates are required to come with the following for the screening test:
(a) A copy of the Print out of completed on-line confirmation of application.
(b) UME Result Slip
(c) Two recent passport size colour photographs with the full names of candidates and signature on the reversed side of
the photograph.
(d)  Four Figure Table (where applicable).
(e)  Biro, HB Pencil and Eraser.

On-line application will start on Tuesday, June 22, 2010.

Application website closes by 6.00 p.m. on Saturday, July 3, 2010.

NOTE

1. Candidates are to log in ONLY the courses they choose from Delta State University, Abraka in UME.
2. G.S.M. phones are NOT allowed.
3. Parents, Guardians and well wishers will not be allowed to stay around the venue of the screening exercise.
4. Any person(s) caught impersonating will be handed over to the Police and the candidate(s) impersonated will automatically be disqualified.

CANDIDATES ARE REQUIRED TO PRINT OUT A NEW ON-LINE CONFIRMATION OF APPLICATION AT http://www.delsuonline.com
FROM ANY CYBER CAFÉ SHOWING THE NEW DATES OF THE EXERCISE.

Applicants should proceed to the designated bank and are advised not to use a third party.

Help Lines   -  07032279027
08058504466
08082935585
08034396911

SIGNED

MR. E. UDJO

Registrar & Secretary to Senate.

Water & Soil Solution, a Non-Governmental Organization aimed at providing good drinkable bore hole water in Nigeria now goes into education aid. Yes, you heard it right, education!

According their website information, Water and Soil Solution operates mostly in the Northern part of Nigeria (Sokoto and Nasarawa State to be precise) over time they have build a total of 250 boreholes in the rural areas at no cost.

Surprisingly for me, they are now into providing scholarship to students in Polytechnics and Universities in collaboration with their parent company in Switzerland. (I am not so sure who the parent company is, they did not provide such information. I wonder why, it matters alot!)

Excerpt from their site says the Scholarship Program is their own way of supporting the humanity by supporting students in high institutions.

Water and Soil, registered with Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria declared that they will pay roughly 50,000 Naira to applicants upon screening exercise and verification of student result which they require a minimum of 2 Grade A passes and 4 Credits from either WAEC or NECO examination and 3.0 CGPA for University students.

However, their web site and application page are both not convincing for me! Though this could issues related to their webmaster, I suppose they were very negligent or in experienced enough to know that the site is poor. Sadly, I even submitted an empty application form and I received the response

Your application has been submitted. We will get back to you in due time

But this enough might not be a reason for me to judge the offer.

Thank God, I am a technical person, so I was able to tell that the form might be processing well but only the web master failed to do pre-checking to submitted data. In layman words, probably the application form works well and will submit your data for processing!

If you are interested in the scholarship offer, you may contact them via the following information according to their web site.

Sokoto Address:
17B Ahmadu Bello Way,
Sokoto. Tel: 08131038282,

Nasarawa Address:
165, Shenadam Road, Lafia.
Tel: 08137292718

You may also email them via info@waterandsoilsolution.com or scholarship@waterandsoilsolution.com