How to score high in JAMB Use of English

Use of English is the only compulsory UTME subject, and it carries 60 of your 180 questions. Scaled to 100 marks like every other subject, it is your single biggest opportunity: a candidate who moves from 50 to 75 in Use of English adds 25 marks to their total.

The good news is that Use of English is highly predictable. The same question types appear every year, and each has a strategy.

What the paper contains

UTME Use of English typically includes:

• Comprehension passages, including a cloze passage (a passage with gaps to fill).
• Lexis and structure: synonyms, antonyms, sentence completion, interpretation of sentences, and idioms.
• Oral forms: vowels, consonants, rhymes and stress.
• The recommended text: questions on a prescribed novel.

Let's take each in turn.

1. Comprehension passages

Comprehension questions test whether you can understand what a writer says, and what they imply.

Strategy:

• Read the questions first. Then read the passage looking for what you need.
• Answer from the passage only. If an option is true in real life but not supported by the passage, it's wrong.
• Watch for qualifiers: "mainly", "most likely", "NOT", "EXCEPT". They change what the question is asking.
• For vocabulary-in-context questions, replace the word with each option and see which keeps the sentence's meaning.

Common trap: an option that repeats exact words from the passage but changes their meaning. Examiners know students scan for matching words.

2. Cloze passages

A cloze passage has gaps, each with four options. You must choose the word that fits both the grammar and the meaning of the passage.

Strategy:

• Read the whole passage first to get the overall meaning.
• For each gap, check grammar (tense, number, part of speech), then meaning.
• Pay attention to collocations, the words that naturally go together ("make a decision", not "do a decision").

3. Synonyms and antonyms

You'll be asked to choose the word or phrase nearest in meaning (synonym) or opposite in meaning (antonym) to an underlined word in a sentence.

Strategy:

• Read the whole sentence. Many words have several meanings, and the sentence decides which one is meant.
• Predict the meaning first, then look at the options.
• For antonyms, be careful. Examiners often include the synonym among the options to catch students who forget whether the question asks for "nearest" or "opposite".

Example: The minister's speech was verbose*.* Nearest in meaning: A. brief B. wordy C. clear D. angry. Answer: B. Verbose means using more words than necessary. If the question asked for the opposite, A (brief) would be correct, and you can be sure both appear among the options.

Our guide to lexis and structure covers this section in depth.

4. Sentence completion and structure

These questions test grammar: concord, tenses, prepositions, pronouns and question tags.

High-frequency rules:

• Concord: "Neither the principal nor the teachers were present." The verb agrees with the nearer subject. See our concord rules guide.
• Question tags: "He has finished, hasn't he?" A positive statement takes a negative tag.
• Prepositions: "different from", "congratulate on", "accused of".
• Pronouns after prepositions: "between you and me", not "between you and I".

5. Interpretation of idioms and sentences

You may be asked what an idiom means or what a sentence implies.

Example: The new manager is a square peg in a round hole*.* This means the manager is unsuited to the position.

Strategy: learn common idioms in groups, and don't interpret them word for word.

6. Oral forms

Oral English questions ask which word has the same vowel or consonant sound as a given word, which word rhymes, or where the stress falls.

Strategy:

• Learn the vowel and consonant sounds of English with example words for each.
• Don't trust spelling. "Through", "cough" and "dough" are all spelled with -ough but pronounced differently.
• Learn common stress patterns, for example that many two-syllable nouns are stressed on the first syllable (PREsent) and the verb form on the second (preSENT).

Oral forms reward steady practice more than any other section. Fifteen minutes a few times a week makes a real difference.

7. The recommended text

JAMB prescribes a novel that candidates are expected to read, and several questions are drawn from it. The text changes periodically, so check JAMB's current syllabus or brochure for the one set for your year.

Strategy:

• Read the actual novel, not just a summary. Questions often focus on details summaries leave out.
• Make notes on each chapter: main events, characters and their relationships, and key themes.
• Review the notes regularly in the weeks before the exam.

These are among the easiest marks in the paper for candidates who have read the book.

Managing your time in Use of English

Sixty questions is a lot within your two-hour exam. Many candidates aim to spend no more than about 35–40 minutes on Use of English, leaving time for their other three subjects. To do that:

• Answer the quick sections (synonyms, antonyms and sentence completion) briskly.
• Don't get stuck on one comprehension question. Mark it, guess and move on.
• Make sure every question has an answer; there is no negative marking.

How to practise

• A little every day beats a lot on Saturday. Use of English builds steadily.
• Read widely: newspapers, novels and good articles. Reading is the long-term foundation of every section.
• Keep a vocabulary notebook with each new word, its meaning, a synonym, an antonym and an example sentence.
• Practise with explanations. When you get a question wrong, learn the rule behind the correct answer.

Levia's English Language subject is organised into five levels, from comprehension and core vocabulary up to full UTME-standard lexis and structure, with a clear explanation of the rule behind every answer. Try Level 1 free to see where you stand.