Official SyllabusCompulsory SubjectJAMB 2026

Use of EnglishTopics, Objectives & Mark Breakdown

Total Questions

60

Core Sections

3

Areas of Concentration

Comprehension and Summary
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Topics to Cover:
  • Description
  • Narration
  • Exposition
  • Argumentation/Persuasion
  • Synthesis of ideas
What JAMB will test you on:
  • Identify main points and topic sentences in passages
  • Determine implied meanings
  • Identify the grammatical functions of words, phrases, clauses, and figurative/idiomatic expressions
  • Deduce or infer the writers' intentions, mood, attitude, and opinion
Lexis and Structure
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Topics to Cover:
  • Synonyms
  • Antonyms
  • Clause and sentence patterns
  • Word classes and their functions
  • Mood, tense, aspect, number, agreement/concord, degree, and question tags
  • Mechanics (Punctuation and Spelling)
  • Ordinary, figurative, and idiomatic usage
What JAMB will test you on:
  • Identify words and expressions in their ordinary, figurative, and idiomatic contexts
  • Determine similar and opposite meanings of words
  • Differentiate between correct and incorrect spellings
  • Identify various grammatical patterns in use
  • Interpret information conveyed in sentences
Oral Forms
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Topics to Cover:
  • Vowels (monothongs, diphthongs, and triphthongs)
  • Consonants (including clusters)
  • Rhymes (including homophones)
  • Word stress (monosyllabic and polysyllabic)
  • Emphatic stress (in connected speech)
What JAMB will test you on:
  • Make distinctions among vowel types
  • Differentiate among consonant types
  • Identify correct pronunciation of individual words and articulation of connected speech

Recommended Textbooks

  • Bamgbose, A. (2002). English Lexis and Structure for Senior Secondary Schools and Colleges. Ibadan: Heinemann.
  • Banjo, A., et al. (2004) New Oxford Secondary English Course Book six. Ibadan: University Press Plc.
  • Jones, D. (2011). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary. Cambridge University Press.
  • Nnamonu, S. and Jowitt, D. (1989) Common Errors in English. Lagos: Longman.

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