English Language 2012 Jamb Past Questions and Answers

Question 16 :

• JAMB 2012

It is said that experience is the best teacher, but to learn consciously through wisdom may even be a better and more convenient way. T learn by experience is to learn from mistakes. It means you have burnt our fingers and now your eyes are open'. This is a tough, costly and inconvenient way to learn. Rather than leaving our learning to experience, why do we not learn consciously going out way to acquire knowledge and wisdom rather than leave our learning to chance.
Surely, we can learn from mistakes but why wait till when we make mistakes before we lean? We should give more premium to learning by wisdom than by experience.
This will involve one making up ones mind to be decisive in learning. We must decide to learn consciously and not necessarily from negative experiences. The first step is to realize that life is simply the outcome and outplay of decisions. Our life now is the sum total of our decisions and our future will be determined by our decisions. Our life now is the sum total of our decisions and our future will be determined by our decisions of today. If we decide to learn today we are not likely to make mistakes and when we do not make mistakes, experience need not be our best teacher.
To avoid making experience our best teacher will take more than a decision. We must couple our decision with a complete and -wholehearted devotion. We must be resolved, resolute and resilient in our bid to learn by wisdom and not necessarily by experience. This is crucial because situations and circumstances will want us to make a detour and leave our learning and life to chance. We must therefore be disciplined to remain with our resolve to make a clean break with experience as our best teacher. Disciplined in this regard means learning something new everyday by wisdom rather than rather than experience. It
means consciously getting better by the day in your chosen field. Discipline will demand taking advantage of every learning opportunity that comes our way. It will mean we must pay the price for learning by wisdom -invest in books, magazines, seminars and other means by which we may become wiser.
It is much easier and cheaper to learn consciously by wisdom than to learn by experience. When we learn by experience , the deed is done and we are just picking up the pieces-learning in regret how to avoid such predicament next time. Consider the child who grapes a burning coal, he has learned the hard way through the painful experience, but his fingers will remain burnt. Thus the saying, that experience is the best teacher, may not be justifiable after all.
Adapted from Sunday Tribune , July 2007


The phrase a complete and wholehearted devotion, as used in the passage, means

A. Acting without doubts
B. Learning with tension
C. Learning without pains
D. Teaching with ease

Question 17 :

• JAMB 2012

Answer the following question below and select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence.
Hardworking students must not have a finger in every pie at school.

A. Hardworking students must not have a role to play in most activities in the school
B. Only hardworking students must participate in all activities in the school
C. Hardworking students do not participate in all activities in the school
D. Hardworking students must ask others to participate in school activities

Question 18 :

• JAMB 2012

Answer the following question below and select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence.
The vice chancellor is riding the crest of the last quarter of his administration.

A. The vice chancellor enjoys the acknowledgment of the success of his administration
B. The vice chancellor does not enjoy the people's criticism of his administration
C. The vice chancellor hopes to overcome soon the poor comments on the adinistration
D. The vice chancellor does not talk of his success in office

Question 19 :

• JAMB 2012

Answer the following question below and select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence.
She was absolved by the court from the charge.

A. She was convicted for the charge
B. She was blamed and charged to court
C. Her case was resolved by the court
D. She was declared free from the charge

Question 20 :

• JAMB 2012

Answer the following question below and select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence.
The landlord is fond of throwing his weight about

A. The landlord likes healthy exercise
B. The landlord is overweight
C. The landlord gives orders to people
D. The landlord is respected by his tenants