English Language is a core subject for school candidates, with Core Mathematics, Integrated Science and Social Studies. Private candidates sit it too. WAEC sets the paper. Glearn Technologies writes this guide. GLearn does not set the paper, and GLearn does not publish a pass rate. Read the timetable for your own series.
Papers 1, 2 and 3
The examination has three papers. In the scheme, Papers 1 and 2 are taken at one sitting, and Paper 3 is separate. The timetable for your series names each paper and gives the time. This page does not copy those times, because a later file can change them. If the timetable and this page disagree, follow the timetable.
Paper 1 is the objective paper. It tests lexis and structure: grammar, vocabulary, idioms, and the way a sentence is built. You answer the items the paper asks you to answer.
Paper 2 is the written paper. It has three kinds of work. Essay writing, also called continuous writing, asks for one piece in a form the question names, such as a letter, an article, a speech, a report or a story. Comprehension asks you to show that you understood a passage. Summary asks you to select the points that answer the question and write them in your own words. Read the instruction before you start. Answer one essay, not every topic on the page.
Paper 3 is oral English. WAEC calls this the test of orals. You answer questions about sounds, stress, intonation and the way a word is said. It is not a conversation with an examiner in the hall. Confirm the name of the paper on the timetable for your series.
Summary writing technique
A summary is a selection. The passage contains illustrations, names and asides. The question asks for the points. Write those, and leave the rest. Write continuous prose unless the question allows a list.
1. Read the question first
It tells you what to summarise and the form to use. A question that asks for reasons is not answered by retelling the whole passage. If it states a limit, that limit is the task. This page does not invent a word count or a sentence limit.
2. Mark the points, not the examples
An example supports a point. It is not a second point. Drop names that only illustrate, and drop repetitions of the same idea.
3. One idea, then the next
Restate each point in your own words, then join them so the answer reads as prose. Do not bury two points inside a long sentence and hope both are seen.
4. No opinion and no lift
Do not add what you think the writer should have said. Do not open with a preamble such as the passage says. Do not copy a stretch of the passage. Keep a word only when there is no simpler word.
5. Stay inside the passage
A true fact from outside the text does not belong in the summary. A point that does not answer the question does not belong either.
6. Read it as a stranger
If a sentence still depends on the passage to make sense, it is not yet a summary. If it still sounds like the writer's sentence, rewrite it.
Essay, comprehension and the test of orals
Summary is one part of Paper 2. The essay, the comprehension and Paper 3 need the same week.
1. One essay, in the named form
Underline the form and the audience. A speech, an article, a letter, a report and a story do not open the same way. The formats guide shows the shapes. Answer one question, and develop it. A list of slogans is not an essay.
2. Comprehension from the passage
Read the passage, then the questions, then the passage again. Own words means the sentence is yours. An inference needs the clue and the conclusion. Do not import a fact the passage never gave you.
3. Lexis in a full sentence
On Paper 1, say why the other options fail. Agreement, tense, idiom and register are the usual traps. A word can be the right meaning and the wrong company.
4. Sounds you can hear
For the test of orals, say the word, then match the vowel or consonant. Stress the syllable the word actually stresses. Rhyme is the ending sound, not the spelling.
WASSCE essay and letter formatsEssay writing practiceLexis and structure practiceWASSCE English past questions
A short way to revise
Give every paper a turn. A week of essays with no summary and no oral work leaves two scores cold.
1. Rotate the three papers
One session for objective items, one for a full essay, one for a passage and a summary, and one for sounds and stress. Do not save Paper 3 for the night before.
2. Open two forms on one topic
Write the opening of a speech and the opening of an article on the same subject. If they could be swapped, the form is not in the writing yet.
3. Summarise a passage you already understand
Use a comprehension you have already answered. Pull only the points the question would ask for, in your own words, with no preamble.
4. Have the essay marked
Anna marks WASSCE English on GLearn. Kevin marks BECE English. A written answer is marked point by point. The first questions need no account.
5. Keep English inside the wider plan
The revision plan orders the weeks across every subject you sit. The how to pass guide and the exam tips cover the timetable and the morning. This page does not copy a date.
WASSCE revision planHow to pass the WASSCEWASSCE exam tipsTry WASSCE practice free
Mistakes chief examiners keep returning to
WAEC chief examiners write a report after a sitting. This page describes the habits in general. It does not quote a report, and it does not give a figure.
1. The wrong form
A story where a speech was asked for, or a letter close on an article. The form is the task. A strong piece in a different form does not answer the question.
2. More than one essay
The rubric asks for one. Starting a second topic, and leaving both thin, spends time the marked answer needed.
3. A summary that keeps everything
Illustrations, repetitions, a preamble and a personal comment sit in the answer. The points are buried. A summary written as a second essay has missed the task.
4. Copied comprehension
Own words is a separate demand from the right idea. A correct idea in the writer's sentence fails that demand.
5. Expression and accuracy
Agreement, tense, spelling and punctuation cost credit where the paper marks them. A strong idea in unclear English is hard to reward.
6. Orals treated as optional
Sounds and stress are their own paper. Skipping them is a missing score, not a detail you can repair in the essay.
Keep these open while you revise
WASSCE practiceWASSCE syllabusWASSCE English past questionsPast questions with answersWASSCE essay and letter formatsWASSCE revision planHow to pass the WASSCEWASSCE exam tipsWASSCE timetableWASSCE for private candidatesBECE English tipsCreate a free accountWAEC Ghana WASSCE for schoolsWAEC Ghana timetable
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