French is a BECE subject. It is not one of the four cores CSSPS adds. Those are English Language, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. A French grade can still be one of the two other grades, when it is among your best. You sit French only if your school entered you for it. WAEC sets the examination. Glearn Technologies writes this guide. Glearn does not set the paper, does not place students, and glearn does not publish a pass rate.
How the papers are set
WAEC Ghana publishes the scheme in its BECE guidelines. Read that file for the current timing and the marks. This page does not copy them, because a later file can change them.
The scheme names three papers. Paper 1 is the objective paper. It covers listening comprehension, written comprehension and vocabulary. In the guidelines file linked below, the listening part is marked as on hold. Paper 2 is written expression, and the tasks on it are compulsory. They include short writing, such as a form, directions, advice or a brief description, and one composition, which may be a letter. Paper 3 is an oral conversation: introducing yourself, exchanging a few facts, and a short real life exchange such as buying something or greeting someone. The same guidelines say that oral paper can stay on hold until the logistics are in place.
If the question paper in your hall is arranged differently, follow the question paper. Keep revising listening and speaking even when an older file puts them on hold. The guidelines tell teachers to keep teaching the oral work.
What to revise
Use the parts of the paper as a revision map. A part is not a promise that every classroom topic appears on your paper.
1. Comprehension
Read or listen for who does what, where, and why. The answer is in the passage. A likely story that the passage does not say is a wrong option.
2. Grammar
Agreement of gender and number, articles, the present, a past tense, the near future, negation, and questions. Show the form in a sentence, not only the name of the rule.
3. Vocabulary
School, family, the town, health, food, travel and professions. Learn each word with its article, le or la, so the gender travels with it.
4. Letter and composition writing
A letter needs a greeting, the reason you are writing, and a close. A composition stays on the task in the question. Write it in French, and stay inside the length the question asks for.
5. Short functional writing
A form asks for one fact in each line. Directions name the next turn. Advice says what the person should do. A short description says what happened, who was there, or what a professional does. Answer the task that is printed.
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How to answer
The command in the question decides the shape of the answer. French is the language of the answer.
1. Do the compulsory tasks
Paper 2 does not offer a choice in the scheme this page describes. Leave nothing blank. A long composition does not repair a blank short task.
2. Write in French
An answer in English does not show the language the paper is testing. If you are stuck, write the French you know in a full sentence.
3. Obey the command
A form wants the fact in the labelled line. A letter wants the message and a reason. A description wants what you can point to, in order.
4. Answer from the passage
For comprehension, the supporting sentence is in the text. Do not choose a word only because it appeared somewhere nearby.
5. Check agreement
Before you move on, look at the noun and the words that agree with it: the article, the adjective, and the verb.
6. Accents change the word
à and a are different words. ou and où are different words. Add the accent when the meaning needs it.
How to revise
Keep the work smaller than the whole language. One area, then a question, then the reason.
1. Stay on one area
Finish family and school vocabulary before you jump to the clinic and the town. A mixed pile feels busy and teaches less.
2. Answer before you read
Do the task first. Then read why. Recognising a sentence is not the same as being able to write it.
3. Write one composition
Once a week, write a letter or a short description in French: a greeting or a first line, the point, and a close. Have it marked.
4. Keep a word list
Ten new words, each with le or la, and one sentence. Say them aloud. Then cover the list and write them again.
5. Say the oral tasks
Introduce yourself, ask a question, buy something, thank someone and take your leave. Do this even if the oral paper is on hold in the file you read.
6. Fit French into the week
The revision plan orders the weeks across your subjects. When the official timetable is out, give the earliest paper more time. This page does not copy a date.
7. Have the answer marked
Kevin marks BECE French on glearn. Anna marks WASSCE answers. The first questions need no account.
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Mistakes that cost marks
These are habits, not a secret list of questions. Fix the habit on the next piece you write.
1. Answering in English
The paper is testing French. A correct idea in English does not show the sentence the marker can credit.
2. A memorised essay
A composition you prepared for a different task does not answer the question on the paper. Read the task and write to it.
3. A letter with no greeting and no close
Open the letter and close it. The message sits between those two lines. A block of sentences with no greeting is not a letter.
4. Vocabulary from one topic only
Food with no town, no school and no clinic leaves a hole. The objective paper can draw on any of those areas.
5. Gender left off the noun
Learn le or la with the word. An adjective has to agree with that noun. A bare noun is harder to use in a sentence.
6. Skipping the short tasks
The composition is not the whole of Paper 2. A form, a direction or a piece of advice left blank is a missing score.
Keep these open while you revise
BECE practiceBECE French past questionsPast questions with answersBECE aggregate calculatorBECE syllabusBECE timetableBECE revision planHow to pass the BECEBECE exam tipsBECE letter writing formatBECE English tipsBECE Ghanaian Language tipsWASSCE French tipsCreate a free accountWAEC Ghana BECE guidelinesWAEC Ghana
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