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INTERVIEW: I used AI to summarise notes, joined WhatsApp groups to study, says UTME top scorer


On Monday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) declared Daniella Owoeye the highest scorer in the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The teenager topped the chart of the ten highest scorers with 372 marks. But from the depth of her preparation, the achievement is undoubtedly well deserved.

In this interview with TheCable’s IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI, the teenager takes a deep dive into the rigorous preparation and demanding journey that led to her UTME success. She says the biggest factor for her was not just parental support, but a mindset shift, because “big schools don’t define success”.


TheCable: So many people don’t know much about you yet. Tell us about yourself.

Owoeye: I am Owoeye Daniella Jesudunsin. I am 16 years old. For my primary education, I attended Royal Standard International School. And for my junior secondary school, I attended Universal Success Academy. For my senior secondary school, I attended EFVP Wisdom Strength Model School.

TheCable: At any point during your primary or secondary school education, did you have a double promotion?

Owoeye: Yes, I did. But my parents are not the type who usually want extra promotion and all of that. They believe I should follow the due process from one class to the other, so I wouldn’t miss out on any necessary knowledge I need to acquire. But there was a time I was double-promoted from primary 4 to primary 6 in my primary school.

At that point, they felt that since oftentimes the primary 5 curriculum and syllabus were kind of related to that of primary 6, because they were both preparatory classes for junior secondary school level one. They said that since the primary 5 topics were also covered in my primary 6, they allowed that.

TheCable: Did you hold any leadership positions in school?

Owoeye: In my junior secondary school, in JSS3, I was the head girl. I held the same position in SS3.

TheCable: On Monday, you came into the limelight shortly after JAMB announced you as the highest scorer in this year’s UTME. Can you tell us how you felt when you received the news?

Owoeye: When I heard about my success, I was very happy, and it was actually a moment to be proud of. I felt grateful to God. My joy knew no bounds. I didn’t even know how to express myself at that moment. I was kind of emotional and all of that. So, I was very happy and thankful to God.

TheCable: Was it something you had been expecting?

Owoeye: I would say that after checking my UTME results, I was expecting to be among the top ten, or at least the top three.

I was at home alone when I got the news. I wasn’t even with my dad. My parents called and notified me, but someone had already sent the news to me while I was doing something else and wasn’t online to read it. But immediately after they notified me, I followed up from there.

I watched the clip, and from there, I started receiving messages congratulating me and all of that.

It was very exciting. When I received the calls, I observed my parents from afar, and they were looking proud of their daughter and all of that. But the messages and the calls were just too much. It was kind of overwhelming. It was from one call to another, and it was just so much.

TheCable: We noticed that social media accounts in your name appeared on Twitter and Facebook that same Monday. Were you the one who created those accounts?

Owoeye: Yes, I created the accounts. I intend to post educational videos, news, and all of that because I’ve heard a lot of people asking me how I went about doing this. So, I intend to post how I achieved my score, and I also intend to post educational videos advising my fellow students. That was why I created the account.

Actually, my parents were in support of that, and they were even the ones who advised me.

Although I had it in mind, they even spoke up and said I should also create something like that. So, I decided to just create it since I already had it in mind.

TheCable: Have you received any commendation letter or contact from JAMB?

Owoeye: No, not at all. They haven’t.

TheCable: What about from Ekiti state, since the government celebrated you on their Twitter page on Tuesday?

Owoeye: No, we haven’t received anything.

TheCable: Talking about the UTME, you scored 372, with 98 in both English and Chemistry. What role did your parents play in this achievement? I read they are specialists in these subjects.

Owoeye: My parents usually speak English to us at home. They barely spoke Yoruba. It was not until I got to JSS3 that I started learning how to speak Yoruba. So, they spoke English purely, and it helped me become fluent in speaking the language.

Also, I would say my parents have been supportive, and they have always provided everything that we needed since we were in primary school up to this level.

And for UTME specifically, I would say my parents gave me their full support. They provided the past questions, the textbooks, everything I needed, and they even prayed for me. So, they gave me moral support.

TheCable: What would you say were the major factors that contributed to your outstanding performance in those two subjects?

Owoeye: Well, some people say that because my dad works at the library and he is in art, people feel like I took the English aspect from him.

And because my mom has a PhD in industrial chemistry, people also feel like I got the chemistry aspect from her. And truly, it played a role because there were times when I needed clarification on a few questions while preparing, and I met my mom, who explained them to me. It was really helpful, and the same goes for my dad. So, it was really helpful to me.

TheCable: How did you prepare for the UTME?

Owoeye: Actually, regarding my mode of preparation, I think only a few students can do that. I wasn’t fortunate enough to attend these big, prestigious schools because that doesn’t define success. I knew that I needed to work harder and not just work harder, but work even smarter and strategically.

So, I started early and set a goal. This reminds me of a scripture written in the book of Habakkuk that says we should write our goals and vision clearly. So, I keyed into that. I wrote down my goal. I wrote “370 plus”, and then I worked towards it.

Growing up, I have learnt that we are meant to intensify our actions rather than increase our goals. In the past, I used to set so many goals and all of that. But I learned that increasing the goals is not the key, but increasing my efforts and actions are. So, I keyed into that and started pushing and doing all that I needed to do.

Also, I set a timetable. The timetable I used while preparing was different from the one I used for my revision. I used one month, April, for my revision.

So, I set alarms on my [/b]phone. I saw that as my own school bell to notify me each time. I would say from the time I woke up till about 11:30 in the morning, I read. That was my morning session. Then I took a few breaks.

My breaks were not for social media because I learned that, after mentally taxing work, social media was not the right option to cool it down, since I knew my brain needed proper rest. So, I just rested during the break. I walked around and all of that.

Also, during my afternoon session, I studied from around 12:30 to about 3:30. I took a break again, and then from 4:30 till the period for my online tutorial, I read again. The tutorial started at 7:15 p.m., so I stopped all that I was reading by 7 pm. That was my routine.

I also didn’t rely on my tutorials alone. I made other efforts. My parents provided all my subject combinations, JAMB Series Remix and Prep 50, and hard copies of past questions.

[b]TheCable: What about the JAMB syllabus?

Owoeye: My preparation was topic-by-topic based. I used the JAMB syllabus, and I feel that’s where many students are missing it and getting it wrong. They try to cover a lot of textbooks, and some of them do not take the JAMB syllabus seriously.

Instead of downloading the soft copy, I printed everything for physics, chemistry, biology, and English. Each time I finished a topic, I ticked it off and treated it based on what JAMB highlighted.

I also used past questions to generate notes aside from my online tutorials. I did this consistently. I consulted AI to summarise the notes for the parts that seemed bulky, and it was really helpful.

I had the notes where I jotted my errors, my mistakes, and all of that. I did past questions and CBT practices every day. So, I used QuizBoots.

I joined a group that conducted 100-question quizzes every day. They started with chemistry. That lasted for not less than two months. Then, for the remaining subjects, it came up later on, but not less than one month later. It lasted for nothing less than one month. It was 100 questions daily.

Aside from that, I was revising my notes and reading. I also did the Test Readers Weekly Mock Challenge on Saturdays. I did that, and I also had a particular time I set for my own personal mock challenge aside from that one. So, I did a lot of that.

I watched videos. Although my online tutorial notes were self-explanatory and well-explained, and the tutors made the classes lively and superbly structured, I didn’t stop there. I searched for videos online on YouTube and watched a lot of them.

I want to thank my parents for that because they made internet data and everything available. So, I searched for a lot of videos and tried to understand concepts. I wasn’t the type who just saw questions and crammed them like that because I knew that method wouldn’t even work for me at all.

So, I studied concepts regardless of the time it took me to understand them. After understanding the concepts, I recorded them and explained them to myself as if I were teaching. I even used layman’s language and added real-life situations and fictitious ideas to make it practical and help me remember everything I did.

I used a lot of materials. I joined some groups that helped me with quizzes on WhatsApp and Telegram. I think that’s all I remember for now.

TheCable: On average, how many hours did you study in a day?

Owoeye: It’s over eight hours. I didn’t really calculate it, but I read from 8 am to 11:30 am, then from about 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm, and then from about 5 pm to 7 pm. So, I think that should be about nine hours or so. I didn’t calculate it.

I was focused on just trying to solve a lot. My online tutorial also lasted for about four hours. That’s from 7:15 to 12:30 pm or so. So, I just revised a lot after my classes in the morning and went through my notes.

There were times when I tried to solve past questions after that. Then I sleep, and I usually wake up at 6 am.

TheCable: Did you spend just one month preparing for the examination?

Owoeye: No, I started very early last year. I wrote the 2025 UTME, but we had glitches at my centre. The system shut down. The changeover wasn’t working.

The generator went off, and it just wasted a lot of time. But I didn’t request a resit because I was scared that the same thing might repeat itself.

I scored 293. So, having learned from that, I decided to start as early as possible. I started bit by bit until I started moving deeper and deeper and deeper.

TheCable: Why didn’t you use the 293 score to seek admission?

Owoeye: I actually used it. My WAEC result was good, so it boosted it. I settled for a less competitive school, but they pegged their cut-off mark at a very high score, such that only a few people were able to get admission.

I don’t want to mention the name of the school. So, I realised that some candidates were getting admission through connections and buying slots. But my parents kicked against all those things. Even if they had the money, they would not opt for that.

We didn’t bother because my parents couldn’t afford the private institutions that were available. That was why I started preparing for another UTME.

TheCable: This year, you chose the University of Lagos and medicine. What informed those decisions?

Owoeye: I have had this passion to study medicine and surgery since I was young. There’s this TV channel I usually watch, especially on Sundays. They usually showed programmes about support for the sick and people who needed surgery. It actually motivated me.

So, there was a time I sat down and asked myself, why not study medicine and surgery and help these people? Because it was so painful, and I felt their pain. So, ever since then, I’ve been passion-driven to study medicine and surgery.

Apart from that, I also enjoy everything about medicine and surgery. I chose UNILAG because it’s one of the best schools that offer medical courses in Nigeria.

TheCable: What would be your final message to prospective UTME candidates and students generally?

Owoeye: Firstly, to prospective UTME candidates, I would tell them to believe in themselves. Because I feel one thing that is limiting so many UTME candidates is mindset shifts. Some of them feel that because they didn’t attend big schools and all of that, they won’t get big scores.

I want to advise them that if they believe it is impossible, then it will definitely be impossible for them. While others who believe that it is possible will make it possible for themselves. So, they should change their mindset. They should believe that it will be possible.

And not only that, they should work towards it with consistency and commitment, and they should put their preparation into God’s hands. I’ve always been saying that it is one thing to read a lot and work smart strategically, and it is another thing to encounter similar questions to what one has read.

I prayed to God to help me not to read amiss and to direct my steps. The prayer came to pass because I saw the questions there, and I was even smiling because they were very simple questions. They were very familiar questions. I even saw some questions that were kind of repeated. There were some questions with similar concepts that I studied; they just twisted them a bit. So I applied that, and it was so helpful.

I would expect them to be consistent. They should push harder. They should not let anything distract them. They should not let low self-esteem set in. They should believe in themselves. They should hopefully trust the process, commit their preparation to God’s hands, and search for the right materials. I pray God will help them also.

TheCable: What would you like to say to your parents?

Owoeye: I want to say that I love them so much. They are the best gifts that God gave to me. I want to say that they have been supportive. I want to appreciate them.

I also want to say thank you to them for believing in me. I want to give credit to my parents for that. They have been very supportive and very helpful.

I don’t want to mention the name of the school. So, I realised that some candidates were getting admission through connections and buying slots. But my parents kicked against all those things. Even if they had the money, they would not opt for that.

ReacherSaidNoth:
This feels like a good development but it's really not.

Someone like this is going to use AI for her final year thesis and probably rely too much on it in a professional environment.

Reliance on AI ultimately makes us dumber, as we not exercising the areas of our brain we used to with human effort.

buygala:
Nice one


Her guardians should sha keep watch make one yeye boy no go deceive her give her bele, come truncate her bright future .....Especially when she gets into the University...Especially when she gets into the University...

Undergrads are generally practicing marriage by cohabitation during their undergrad years...and the ladies are bearing most of the brunt of that misdemeanor.

Even me when I was in OAU Ile-Ife, I cohabited with a girl for 3 years our of the 5 years I spent there..My parents thought their son was busy only studying to become a lawyer, while I was using their money to form "family man" with Blessing

I still became a lawyer anyway...But the educational expense would have been far cheaper for my parents if I didn't spend more than half of my undergrad time fornicating or trying to fornicate

VaginaAcademic:
Dem go soon ban AI she's just reporting herself

badoh:
Congratulations to her and her parents. However, I find something really strange in the report. She said her parents hardly speak yoruba to her until when she got to SS3. This is not good at all, this is how we are loosing our mother tongue gradually because we hardly speak it to our children. English should not replace our mother tongue completely, imagine if she cant speak yoruba, how will she now communicate such to her own children when she gives birth.

Theama:
She used it as a tool for studying.


Not that she cheated in the exam.

buygala:
Nice one


Her guardians should sha keep watch make one yeye boy no go deceive her give her bele, come truncate her bright future .....Especially when she gets into the University...Especially when she gets into the University...

Undergrads are generally practicing marriage by cohabitation during their undergrad years...and the ladies are bearing most of the brunt of that misdemeanor.

Even me when I was in OAU Ile-Ife, I cohabited with a girl for 3 years our of the 5 years I spent there..My parents thought their son was busy only studying to become a lawyer, while I was using their money to form "family man" with Blessing

I still became a lawyer anyway...But the educational expense would have been far cheaper for my parents if I didn't spend more than half of my undergrad time fornicating or trying to fornicate