JAMB: Software developer exposes why candidates score above 300

Mr. Oluwakoyejo Oluwatosin, CEO, Chronicles Software Development Company Limited, makers of Success Tab, Universal Test Engine and the Successbox has exposed the secret behind many JAMB candidates scoring above 300 in 2017 and 2018 examinations.

In this interview with Vanguard, apart from disclosing the secrets of WAEC and JAMB successes, he also spoke on sundry issues. Excerpts:

What is Success Tab?

We came for the unveiling of one of our finest creations called Success tab. Success tab is a digital learning device designed to enable the 21st Century student excel in all fields and not just academics. Success tab is preloaded with academic contents which include WAEC, Junior WAEC and JAMB past questions. It has loads of educational content of e-textbooks and some other features that help each child to excel. We add parental control as well.

What differentiates Success tab from other tablets?

Our contents are unique. We don’t just put textbooks into the tabs, we put textbooks that are easily understandable. Textbooks that students can easily assimilate, that engender learning at the highest level.
The tab localises every other content. They are localised because the students do not need internet to use them as they can be used offline. Although our tab is internet-ready, but to use our contents, you don’t need internet.

Aside that, the tab provides layers of privacy for the student’s security. We have what we call the social media time out. The social media time out ensures that the students are not engrossed and they are not sleeping on social media. At certain hours of the day, the students are cut off from social media and if they are there, it sends an analytical reports to the parents.
We also have the parental control features that ensure that students do not see contents that are contrary to their moral values.

What are the mechanisms in place to ensure that the students get comprehensive knowledge about their courses?

The tablet is designed with preloaded academic contents. We have preloaded text with instant call mechanism. If you take a test in Mathematics, you will see your scores immediately and be able to analyse your strengths and your weaknesses. With that, you will be able to know how good you are in that subject. If you are poorly rated, that would engender further study through the e-textbooks e-notes that help you comprehend very fast.

In the course of study, if a student has a difficulty with a particular subject, what can he do?

In the next couple of months, we are doing what we call chat to learn. It is a feature we are bringing into the Success tab, such that when you are in at crossroads, you will be able to see a number of teachers online who are ready to put you through your difficult subjects. You chat with them and get solutions real-time.

Apart from this, we are going to be creating what we call students’ hubs where the finest and the smartest students everywhere will be contributing to real-time solutions at different times.

Two of the JAMB candidates who used your Successbox to practice before the 2018 examinations scored 343. What was the secret?

We attribute all our successes to the Almighty God, the giver of all the wisdom we exhibit. However, when you properly understand patterns, you will gain wisdom and insight. When students practice often, such students understand patterns. When a student understands patterns, he will have the mastery. When he has indepth knowledge, he goes on to excel.

What inspired the creation of Success tab?
I was that young boy that took examination after secondary school and failed woefully. When I failed, I had to get past questions because I could not even afford exercise books at that time. I went to my church and discovered that at the back of every flier, there was an empty space.

I turned the back of that empty space and began to solve chemistry and mathematics problems and by so doing, I began to understand patterns and models. As I practised often, I mastered the subject areas. I went in for the examination, I excelled. That was why we decided to do this. We put in tools that enable students succeed.

How was your WAEC result in those days?
I had a very bad results. 1998, I took WAEC examination and also did the same for the GCE that same year. In my WAEC results, the most popular grade was the F9; four F9s, two credits, others were passes. In my core subjects, I had F9 in chemistry, physics and mathematics.

Your turning point?

There was a particular day I sat down at a particular meeting. One of my leaders at the leadership training programme in year 2000 spoke to us in a very inspiring way. He told us to do something with our lives, adding that we cannot afford to fail. When I got up that day, I knew I was a transformed person.
I went back home and began to comb my books because the desire to read and learn were there. That was where I contacted the spirit of excellence. I know that more than I know my name.

I got to the university parading two WAEC results. When I arrived on campus, I wrote behind my notebooks: Jesus is the giver and the source of my excellence; even when I did not have excellent results. My first result on campus was 95 per cent. In 27 courses, I had 21 As and 6Bs. It was amazing! 5.0 was the CGPA, but I had 4.76 CGPA.

When I got to the university, I was not excited about making a first class. I thought if I had made a first class, it would have been a backward first class. In my school, they were teaching us Pascal, why out there, they were doing java and Visual Basic. I rather chose to build a world class and a first class company, Chronicles.
Chronicles is a product of divine inspiration I must say. I read a book in my 200 level days called, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It inspired the fire inside me.

The question came up within me asking if I want to be an entrepreneur or an employee. I did not know what to do, but that fight was going on within me. But in 300 Level, I went for a conference at Obafemi Awolowo University where I was fired up through the speech of Mr Chinenye Ozuku. In trying to know what to do, I knelt down by my bed side and prayed asking God to direct me.

God said I should pick up your Bible, count to the 13th book and let that be the name of the company. That was in my 300 Level. The question is, how do we start? By faith, in my final year, I called my colleagues together and said, ‘let us go build a company.’ We got started. Every step, we look at the way and the technology and keep servicing clients.
Where do you see Nigeria’s education sector in the next five years?
Rather than see myself, where do I see Nigeria and the education sector? We do not want to build a company that is projected on where an individual wants to be, but where the values and the solutions we are providing want to be.

We want to enhance the Education sector. We are positioning students and the educational system to be aware and empowered. Our goal is that in the next five years, everybody using our products will be very successful; I see one hundred per cent success rate in the likes of Joshua Adigun and Ibrahim who scored 343 in their JAMB using our Successbox.