Printing a full set of IJMB past questions can quietly cost more than the textbooks already on your shelf. The money rarely goes into one big purchase. It leaks out through single-sided pages, oversized fonts, a second print run because the first one was unreadable, and binding you did not actually need. To print IJMB past questions cheaply, you have to control three things: how many sheets the file consumes, how readable the finished page is, and who does the printing. Try free NMCN past/practice question.
This page covers printing and binding only. It does not supply question papers, and it does not sell answers. Where you get your past questions from is a separate matter, covered in How to Get IJMB and JUPEB Past Questions and Answers. Treat any seller who claims to have "real" or leaked exam questions with suspicion; official exam material does not circulate that way.
Balancing Printing Costs with Legibility and Margins
The cheapest page is not always the cheapest booklet. A layout that squeezes two pages onto one sheet saves paper, but if the text becomes a grey blur you will end up reprinting at full size, and you will have paid twice.
Before committing to a large run, print a single test sheet that contains a page with dense text and a page with a diagram or table. Read it at the distance you normally sit. If you have to squint, the saving is false.
What to check on the test sheet
- Font size in the original file. Files set in a small font shrink badly. Ones set in a larger, cleaner font survive reduction far better.
- The binding edge. Tell the printer which side will be bound. A booklet punched or stapled through the text is a wasted booklet, and the fix is a wider margin on that side, not a smaller font.
- Colour. Most past question pages do not need colour. Printing in black and white keeps the price down and, in most files, improves contrast on cheap paper.
- Blank pages. Scanned files often carry blank backs and cover pages. Deleting them before printing is free and saves sheets.
Keep one clean, unmarked copy as your master. Annotate a working copy instead. That way a torn or coffee-stained page never sends you back to the printer with the whole file.
Formatting PDFs for 2-in-1 and Duplex Printing
Two settings do most of the saving: printing two pages per sheet (often called 2-in-1 or 2-up), and printing on both sides of the paper, which is duplex. Used together, they can cut the number of sheets in a file dramatically. Used carelessly, they produce pages that are out of order or impossible to read.
- Combine the files first. Merge the separate year files into one document per subject, in the order you want to study them. Printing ten small files separately wastes paper on partial sheets.
- Clean the file. Delete blank pages, crop heavy scanner borders, and straighten pages that were scanned crookedly. Crooked pages eat margin space that duplex and binding need.
- Set 2-in-1 only where the text allows it. If a subject's pages are dense, print that subject one page per sheet and save the 2-in-1 treatment for cleaner files. Mixed decisions per subject beat one blanket rule.
- Choose duplex long-edge binding for portrait pages. This is the setting that makes the back of the sheet read the right way up. Short-edge duplex on portrait pages turns every second page upside down.
- Watch the odd page count. If a document ends on an odd page, duplex printing leaves one blank back. That is normal, but know it before you assume the printer made a mistake.
- Pull out landscape pages. Wide tables and diagrams printed 2-up often become unreadable. Print those pages separately, one per sheet, and insert them by hand.
- Test four pages, not four hundred. Print the first four pages and the last four. Check reading order, check the backs, then release the full job.
One practical snag: some downloaded PDFs are locked against editing or have odd internal settings. You can usually still print them by choosing the "print as image" option in your PDF reader. Do not go looking for ways to break a password. If a file refuses to print at all, ask the print centre to open it on their own system before you give up on it.
Spiral Binding vs Staple Taping: Cost Comparison
The right binding depends on how thick the booklet is and how you will use it. Both options are cheaper than most students assume, provided you are not binding a single subject into a hard cover it does not need.
| What matters | Spiral binding | Staple taping (saddle stitch or corner staple) |
|---|---|---|
| Materials used | Plastic or metal coil, punched holes, sometimes a clear cover | Two or three staples, sometimes tape or a folded cover |
| Relative cost | Higher, because of the coil and the punching step | Usually the cheapest option available |
| Practical thickness | Handles thick, combined volumes | Best for thin, single-subject booklets |
| How it sits on a desk | Folds flat and stays open, which helps when copying workings | Fights back and closes on itself |
| Adding pages later | Possible, but you pay to re-punch and re-coil | Not practical; you simply start a new booklet |
| Best used for | The big combined volume you will use for months | Year-by-year or topic-by-topic sets you will work through quickly |
Since prices change and vary from one centre to the next, do not rely on a figure you heard last session. Ask for a written quote that separates the cost per sheet from the cost of binding, then compare like with like. A centre that quotes a single lump sum is harder to compare against the one next door.
Two cost mistakes are common here. The first is spiral-binding every subject separately when a single thin staple-bound set would have done the job. The second is stapling a combined volume so thick that the middle pages fall out. Match the binding to the thickness, and bind the big volume once.
Campus Business Centers vs Off-Campus Printers
Campus business centres win on convenience. You can walk in between lectures, check the test sheet in person and collect the same day. Off-campus commercial printers usually win on price for large volumes, because their machines are built for long runs. Neither is automatically better; it depends on the size of your job.
For one thin subject booklet, the campus centre is usually the sensible choice once you count transport and time. For a full multi-year set across several subjects, it is worth pricing an off-campus printer, provided you can check the first sheet before the rest is printed.
Questions to ask before you hand over the file
- Is the price quoted per sheet or per side? A duplexed sheet carries two sides, and centres count this differently.
- Is binding included or charged separately?
- Can I see one printed sheet before the full job runs?
- When will it be ready, and is there a premium for same-day collection?
- Do you keep my file after printing? Ask them to delete it if you would rather they did not.
Send the file ahead where you can. Walking in with a large file during a busy period invites rushed settings and a reprint. If you must print during a peak week, expect queues and give yourself room.
Organizing Printed Past Papers by Subject and Year
A cheap booklet that you cannot find your way around wastes the money you saved. A little organisation at the binding stage makes the booklet usable for the whole programme.
- Print one subject at a time. Do not commit the whole set in one run. Print the subject you are studying now, and print the next one when you reach it.
- Give each booklet a cover sheet. Subject, the years it contains, and the date you printed it. Write it by hand if you like; it costs nothing.
- Use year dividers. A ruled line, a tab or a coloured sheet between years lets you jump to the right paper without flipping through the whole volume.
- Keep a printed index. List the years you have printed and the years still missing, on the inside cover. This is the simplest way to avoid printing the same year twice.
- Keep answer workings separate. Do not write your answers into the booklet if you plan to re-attempt the paper later. Use a notebook or loose sheets and keep the booklet clean.
- Store them upright and labelled. Write the subject on the spine or the cover edge so you can pull the right booklet without emptying the bag.
One last point about sourcing. Your printing budget is only worth spending on papers that are accurate and current. Check the syllabus and exam structure with the official IJMB coordinating office, through the study centre where you registered, and confirm admission-related details such as subject requirements with JAMB's current brochure rather than with a blog or a WhatsApp seller. Confirm anything time-sensitive with those bodies directly.
Do the arithmetic once: count the sheets, test one page, choose the binding that matches the thickness, and print one subject at a time. That habit keeps the cost down and keeps the booklet readable, which is the only thing that matters when you sit down to actually solve the papers.