French is an elective for school candidates and for private candidates. You sit it only if your school entered you for it. WAEC sets the examination. Glearn Technologies writes this guide. Glearn does not set the paper, and glearn does not publish a pass rate. Anna marks WASSCE French. Kevin marks BECE French.
How the papers are set
WAEC sets French as three papers, and the scheme says you take all of them. Papers 1 and 2 are taken at one sitting. The timetable for your series names every paper and gives the time. This page does not copy those times or the marks, because a later file can change them. If the question paper in your hall is arranged differently, follow the question paper.
Paper 1 is the objective paper. You answer all of it. One part is reading comprehension, on short passages, in multiple choice. The other part is structure: French words, expressions and patterns in a short context.
Paper 2 is the writing paper. Section A is the essay. Section B is letter writing. Answer one task from each section. Each piece should stay near the length the syllabus asks for. This page does not copy that length, or how many choices are printed. A long essay does not repair a missing letter.
Paper 3 is the oral paper. It tests listening comprehension, reading aloud, and conversation. The conversation has a dialogue and a short talk on a topic. For Ghana, part of the dialogue draws on selected literature texts. Glearn does not publish that list. Confirm the texts with your school or with WAEC Ghana.
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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 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. The same habit serves the listening passage.
2. Grammar and structure
Articles, gender and number, adjectives that agree, pronouns, negation, and questions. Tenses to have ready: the present, the passé composé, the imparfait, and a future. Show the form in a sentence, not only the name of the rule.
3. Vocabulary
School, family, the town, health, food, travel and professions, plus the conversation themes: sports, leisure, education, politics and culture. Learn each noun with its article, le or la, so the gender travels with it.
4. Essay and letter writing
An essay stays on the task: what happened, what a place is like, or what you think, as the question asks. A letter needs the place and the date, a greeting, the message, and a close that fits the person you are writing to. Write both in French.
5. Listening, reading aloud and conversation
Listen for the facts in the passage the examiner reads. Read a short passage aloud at a steady pace. In the dialogue, answer in full sentences. In the short talk, stay on the topic you were given. If your entry includes literature texts, know what happens in them well enough to speak about them.
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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. 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.
2. Do both writing tasks
Paper 2 asks for one essay and one letter. Leave neither blank. Read the task before you start, so a memorised piece does not miss the question.
3. Obey the command
A letter to a friend is not a letter to a head teacher. An essay that asks for your opinion needs a view and a reason, not only a story. A description needs what you can point to, in order.
4. Answer from the passage
For reading and for listening, the supporting sentence is in the text you were given. Do not choose a word only because it appeared somewhere nearby.
5. Check agreement and accents
Before you move on, look at the noun and the words that agree with it: the article, the adjective, and the verb. à and a are different words. ou and où are different words. Add the accent when the meaning needs it.
6. Speak in sentences
A single word is hard to credit in the conversation. Answer, then add one fact. If you do not know a word, say the idea with words you do know.
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 one tense, or one set of vocabulary, before you jump. 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 essay and one letter
Once a week, write both in French: a first line that meets the task, the point, and a close for the letter. Have them marked.
4. Say the oral tasks
Listen to a short passage and answer from it. Read a paragraph aloud. Introduce a topic in several sentences. Do this even in a week when you would rather write.
5. 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.
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
Anna marks WASSCE French on glearn. Kevin marks BECE French. Practise with Kevin and Anna on glearn.now. The first questions need no account.
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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. 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 in a way that fits the person. The message sits between those lines. A block of sentences with no greeting is not a letter.
4. Agreement and accents left off
Learn le or la with the noun. An adjective has to agree. An accent can change the word. Check both before you move on.
5. One tense for every sentence
A past event, a habit, and a plan do not all use the same form. Choose the tense the meaning needs.
6. Skipping the oral paper
Listening, reading aloud and conversation are part of the scheme. A strong essay does not replace them. Practise speaking in the weeks before, not only on the morning.
Keep these open while you revise
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Start practising on glearn.now with Kevin and Anna