To study a course at universities and many other educational institutions in Nigeria, every candidate is required to meet up with the JAMB cut-off mark and the department/course mark before they can be offered admission to their desired course. But, wait. What are department Marks?
The department cut-off mark which is also known as a course mark is a set of scores candidates need to obtain to study a particular course at the university of their choice. In other words, it is the minimum score you need to be considered in a field of study. It is different from the JAMB cut-off mark.
This mark is not given by JAMB but rather by the University, you apply to. The candidate who is applying for the course must obtain the exact department mark or above to get assurance of gaining admission into the field of study otherwise he/she will be withdrawn from studying the course or be transferred to another one.
How it works
All the universities have their department's marks. For example, UNILAG has theirs, and UNIPORT also has its own. In turn, department marks also differ from the others depending on the course you want to study. The marks to study medicine are different from those to study Law and vice versa.
For example, the general JAMB cut-off mark for UNILAG is 200 but to study a competitive course like pharmaceuticals, the candidate
UTME minimum score should be 250 and above. Why is it like this?
This is so because many candidates are also applying for the same course. Because of this reason, the school will only consider those that score high. A high JAMB score will determine the chances of gaining admission to your preferred course.
When a candidate passes the JAMB cut-off mark of the school he/she applied to, he/she will be eligible to
write the school post-UTME exam. After the post-UTME, the department you applied to will check the performance of those who sit for the exam. After the department has analyzed each performance, they will set a score that each candidate will need to meet before they can be admitted. This newly adopted score is what the department will use to check each candidate as to whether is eligible or not.
How to calculate it.
Different methods are used by various universities to calculate the department cut-off marks. But the most common way to calculate the department mark of any university is to divide your post-UTME mark by two, divide your jamb score by 8, then add the answers you get from both calculations plus your WAEC aggregate points. This method works well for all universities. For more information on how to do this see this article -
how to calculate WAEC, JAMB, and post-UTME aggregate
