JAMB Subject Combination: How to Choose and Check

Your JAMB subject combination is four UTME subjects: Use of English, which is compulsory, plus three that your course requires. Choose by starting from the course, then read its requirements on JAMB's IBASS Eligibility Checker and on the school's own page before you register.

Key points

• You sit four subjects. Use of English is fixed, so you choose three, and the course decides which three are acceptable.
• Start from the course and two backup courses, not from the subjects you like.
• JAMB's own tool for checking is the IBASS Eligibility Checker. Blog lists are a second opinion at most.
• I did not find a published fee for changing subjects. The one 2026 fee I found is for changing institution or course.

How many subjects do I write in JAMB, and which one is compulsory?

You write four. Use of English is compulsory and carries 60 questions. Each of your other three subjects carries 40, which makes 180 questions in two hours, according to JAMB's Manual for Officials of the 2026 UTME.

Reference sites describe the score as out of 400. JAMB's bulletin of 28 September 2026 says a committee is looking at adding life skills and critical thinking to the exam, and nothing is decided. Check the 2027 notice when it comes.

How do I choose a JAMB subject combination?

Start from the course, never from the subjects. The course sets the three subjects, and the school can add its own preferences on top.

1. Write the course you want and two backups.
2. Write the schools you would accept for each.
3. Look up each course's UTME subjects.
4. Pick the combination that satisfies the most entries at once.

Say your first choice is Medicine and your backup is Pharmacy. Check whether one set of three subjects covers both before you register, because that is cheaper than finding out afterwards.

Here is the worksheet I would copy into a notebook. Fill one row per course and school.

Course	School	UTME subjects listed	Where I read it	Date read	Extra school requirement
First choice			IBASS
Backup one			IBASS
Backup two			IBASS

Then circle the subjects that appear in every row. Those are safe. Any subject that appears in only one row is a decision you have to make on purpose.

How do I check my combination on IBASS?

Use JAMB's IBASS Eligibility Checker, and confirm with the school. JAMB's FAQ page says the checker lists the programmes at each institution and the UTME subject combination for each course, and that candidates should verify requirements before applying. The FAQ carries 2025 dates, so read it as general guidance.

IBASS stands for Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System, and it lives at ibass.jamb.gov.ng. JAMB's CAPS and IBASS manual says it exists partly to guide candidates on the choice of subjects and courses. Each programme entry shows UTME requirements, UTME subjects and additional remarks. The 2026 officials manual prints a QR code that leads to it. A state coordinator also said in the 28 September bulletin that the Eligibility Checker will be built into a planned Pre-Registration App.

I need to be straight about one thing. When I opened IBASS for this post it loaded as a JavaScript app and I could not read any course entry from it. So I can't describe its screens or quote an entry. Read your course there, write down the date, and then check the school's admission page. If the two disagree, ask the school in writing.

What is the JAMB subject combination for medicine, law and mechanical engineering?

Secondary guides list these combinations. I could not confirm them on IBASS, so treat them as a starting point only.

Course	Commonly listed with English	How far to trust it
Medicine and Surgery	Biology, Chemistry, Physics	Guides agree. Schools may add their own requirements
Mechanical Engineering	Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry	Guides agree
Law	Literature in English plus two Arts or Social Science subjects	Guides disagree on the last two. Confirm with the school

For Law, Government, Christian Religious Studies, Economics and History all appear in different guides. BusinessDay's 2025 list is one of them. One popular page I found put Law with Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, which every other source contradicts. Popular pages repeat each other's errors, so go to the school.

What does a wrong JAMB subject combination cost?

I found no published fee for changing subjects, and I won't invent one. The cost I can document is for a related change.

In May 2026 JAMB's spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, announced that candidates could change institution or course at accredited CBT centres, according to WithinNigeria. The same report gives the official fee as N2,500, with centres adding a service charge. It does not say whether subjects can be changed. It tells candidates to check that the new school accepts their existing combination before paying.

JAMB's 2026 manual also says a candidate may not register twice. An error is corrected through the Board, not with a fresh application. The bigger cost is not money. It is finding out late that your result does not fit the course you wanted.

Which JAMB subjects can I practise in Etest JAMB CBT?

Eleven: Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, Government, Commerce, Literature, Geography and Christian Religious Studies. I built the app, so I also know what is missing. Agricultural Science and History are not in it.

For the three examples above, every subject is covered. Once your four are fixed, practise them in proportion to how you score in each, not equally. The first three topics in every subject are free, so you can try the ones you are unsure about first.

Frequently asked questions

Do I choose all four JAMB subjects myself?

No. Use of English is compulsory, so you choose three. Your course decides which three are acceptable, and some schools add their own preferences. Check the course on JAMB's IBASS Eligibility Checker, then read the school's admission page before you register, because the two can differ.

What is the safest way to check a subject combination?

Read the course entry on JAMB's IBASS Eligibility Checker and the school's own admission page, and write down the date you read each. JAMB's FAQ says to verify requirements before applying. Treat blog lists as a second opinion, because I found them disagreeing on Law.

Can I change my subject combination after registering?

I don't know the rule or the fee for the 2027 cycle, and I found no JAMB notice that covers it. The May 2026 statement I found covers changing institution or course only. Check jamb.gov.ng before paying anyone, and do not rely on an agent's word.

Is the UTME score always out of 400?

Reference sites describe the UTME as scored from 0 to 400. JAMB is reviewing the exam's content, so the 2027 notice is where to look for the scale. If you sit fewer than four subjects, I do not know how that is scored, and I would not guess.

How I wrote this

On 15 October 2026 I read JAMB's FAQ page, its CAPS and IBASS manual and its 2026 Manual for Officials on jamb.gov.ng, and the bulletin of 28 September 2026. The IBASS lookup did not show me any course entry, so the three course examples come from secondary guides, mainly BusinessDay. The fee figure comes from one news report, not from a JAMB page.

When your four are fixed, Etest JAMB CBT lets you practise them one at a time.