- A 16-year-old girl who scored 372 marks in the 2026 UTME shared her strategic approach to the examination
- The top scorer revealed that she did not attend any elite or prestigious preparatory schools before writing the test
- She explained that she set an alarm on her phone to serve as her school bell and avoided social media during breaks
Owoeye Daniella Jesudunsin, an indigene of Ekiti State who emerged as the top scorer in the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), has detailed how she achieved her 372/400 score.
The 16-year-old student, who intends to study medicine at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), explained that her lack of access to expensive preparatory schools motivated her to work harder and smarter.
Source: UGC
Top scorer’s unique strategy for JAMB exam
In an interview with media outlet The Cable, Daniella noted that she started her preparation early by writing down a specific target score.
Daniella said:
“Actually, my mode of preparation… I think only a few can do that because I wasn’t opportuned to go to these big prestigious schools like Indicators, Scholars, and all of that. So, I knew that I needed to walk harder, and not just walk harder, but walk even smarter, strategically. So, I started early, and then I… I used… I set a goal. Yeah. And this reminds me of this scripture that is written in the book of Habakkuk, that we should write our goal, our vision clearly, that when we run we may see it, and after… I don’t know how to quote it directly. So, I keyed into that, I wrote down my goal. I wrote 370+, and then I aimed towards it.”
Speaking further on her academic routine, the brilliant teenager stated that she focused on increasing her daily efforts rather than just setting empty goals.
She structured her reading times strictly and utilised her mobile phone to maintain discipline throughout the preparation months.
Daniella added:
“And there’s this quote that I read somewhere. I learned to… I learned that we are meant to intensify our actions rather than increase our goals. So, I also learned that because I was this type—before I saw that—I was this type that I usually set so many goals and all of that. So, I learned that increasing the goal is not the key, but increasing my efforts, my actions. So, I keyed into that also, and I… I started pushing and doing all that I needed to do. And also, I set a timetable. Although the timetable I used when preparing was different from the one I used for my revision. I used a kind of… a month or so, the month of JAMB—that’s April—for my revision. So, also I set an alarm on my phone. So, I saw that as my own school bell to notify me of each time. So, I would say right from the time I woke up till about 11:30 in the morning, I read. That was my morning section. Then I took a few breaks. And my own break was not that of social media, because I learned that, you know, having tasked my brain, social media is not the right option to try to cool my brain down…”
Nigerians react to Daniella’s JAMB exam strategy
Legit.ng has compiled some reactions to the top scorer’s post below
Obadofin Adeola said:
“You can now see that there is a match between her spoken English and the 98% she got in English language in JAMB.”
Chidi Echebiriuwa said:
“Oh God. The little girl is even a motivation and an example for adults.”
Emmanuel Ebare said:
“She’s a fantastic speaker oh! 😁She’s excellently eloquent and really sounds quite intelligent.”
Watch the video below:
US company interested in JAMB top scorer
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Owoeye Daniella Jesudunsin, who got the highest score in the 2026 UTME exam, received a rare offer from a company based in the United States that wishes to make her their ambassador.
Source: Legit.ng