I am Tiv by tribe, a Christian and from the family of
Mr and Mrs Daniel Ape. My father works in the state High Court while my
mum is a university librarian.
Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
In an exclusive interview with The Education Report, Ape
Terhemba Moses, who emerged the highest scorer in the 2018 Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) out of 1,653,127 million
candidates that sat for the exam. He scored 354 marks and revealed that
excellence in life demands hard work, determination to succeed and
prayers.
The former student of Covenant Christian International College,
Makurdi, Benue State disclosed how he became used to putting himself in
comfortable positions to fight sleep so he could study all night.
In the May/June 2018 West African Senior School Certificate
Examination (WASSCE), he obtained: English Language C4, Mathematics A1,
Biology B2, Chemistry B3, Physics A1, Civic Education A1, Further
Mathematics A1, Geography B3 and Data Processing A1.
BACKGROUND
I am 17 years old from Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue
State. I am Tiv by tribe, a Christian and from the family of Mr and Mrs
Daniel Ape. My father works in the state High Court while my mum is a
university librarian with the Federal University, Lafia.
IN THE BEGINNING
From Basic school, I was never looked upon as a bright student. But
it all came to a point in my Basic 5 when my Maths teacher took interest
in me and encouraged me to always do my assignments. He instilled fear
in me to always do my assignments and if I didn’t do it, I was sure of
being punished. In doing that, I discovered that I was improving in
Mathematics. And by the time I got to Basic 6, I had
improved
so well that I was one of the best in the subject in my class. When I
entered Junior Secondary School (JSS1), I already had a grasp of most of
the things we were being taught. Another thing that
really helped me in secondary school was the way my seniors handled me.
I was in Glory hostel in JSS 1. And because I was not used to the
boarding system, I was always sleeping. But my seniors
helped me and I began to read at night. They used to tap me from
sleeping if I sleep off or out rightly woke me up from the bed. We
developed methods of reading like putting our legs inside water while
reading to prevent us from sleeping. Sometimes, I put pillows under my
knees so that I would be uncomfortable and fall off if I wanted to
sleep. That kept me going. I was also scared that my position that term
would not be good enough but to my surprise, I came 5th. I discovered
that if I didn’t put in as much efforts as I wanted and I still came
5th, then, I could do better with a little more effort. I felt
challenged seeing my juniors most of whom were girls coming first in
class while I was going home with a 5th position. My parents also played
a big role in ensuring that I emerged the best. I was motivated further
when I entered the senior class where I was exposed to school
competitions. The first competition I went was the Olympiad competition.
When I got there, I saw my mates from other schools. The questions were
tough but I knew they were not insurmountable. I just believed it was
the same thing they taught me that they are going to base the questions
on. So, I saw no difference. In other competitions I attended too, I
discovered that students were trained specifically for those
competitions and they go there and do well. I represented my school in
NNPC competition and to my surprise, I came 4th in the whole Benue
State. I was further challenged because to my standard, I didn’t really
prepare for that competition because I was scared. I came back and
started revising my SS1and SS2 notes. Another thing that helped me was
when I wrote the Nov/Dec 2017 WASSCE in SS2. That really helped me to
know my strong and weak points and to work on those weak points while also ensuring I maintained or sustained my strong points.
ON THE UTME DAY
Before the real UTME, he sat for the mock examination and was not
happy with the result, he scored 298. I was not happy with the score
because last year’s highest score in the school was 299 and the school
was mounting pressure on students to get highesT marks than the previous
set. I tried hard but when I went for that mock examination, my result
was one point below the highest scorer last year. I set a higher
standard for myself because my teachers made me believe that I could do
better than that. For instance, during the holidays, one of my teachers
met me and told me that I should not look at the past record of the
school but I should aim higher. My form teacher also told me same that
what the school is jubilating about, other schools are celebrating
higher scores than that. That made me to buckle up and read more. When I
entered the examination hall I was not confident but I just said, God,
please help me because I usually make errors whenever I’m in haste or
when I’m being timed or when I’m under tension. Surprisingly, that day
after I finished answering all the questions, I had sometime to still go
through my work and make necessary corrections. That helped me a lot.
FUTURE PLANS
I want to become a software programmer. My plan is to gain admission into the University of Lagos to study along that line.
ADVICE TO YOUNGER STUDENTS
They should not wait until they get to a certain stage before trying
to make a positive difference. It is never too early to begin to make a
difference. Whether they are in Basic six, JSS 1, SS 11, SS111 or
preparing to write external examinations, they can still performance
well, they have all it takes to excel. I want them to know that
everybody has potentials to make it in life. Just put in your best and
leave the rest to God.
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