How to prepare for WASSCE Government

Topic areas to revise

These are the areas candidates revise for WASSCE Government. A heading is not a promise that every unit appears on your paper. Glearn does not host the WAEC file. If the file your school gives you uses a different name, follow the file.

1. 1. Power, authority and the state

   Power is the ability to affect what others do. Authority is power that people accept as rightful. Sovereignty is the highest power in a state. Democracy is rule with the consent of the people, through elections and limits on office holders. Keep the words apart. A definition of one is not a definition of the next.

2. 2. Constitutions and the rule of law

   A constitution states who may exercise power and the limits on that power. Written and unwritten describe the form. Rigid and flexible describe how hard it is to amend. They are not the same pair. The rule of law means everyone, including office holders, is subject to the law. Ghana is a safe example of a written constitution. Do not invent an article number.

3. 3. Arms of government, parties and elections

   The legislature makes law, the executive carries it out, and the judiciary interprets it and settles disputes. Political parties organise a choice of leaders and programmes. A free election is one where voters can choose without fear. A fair election is one where the rules and the count treat candidates alike. In Ghana the Electoral Commission runs the poll.

4. 4. Colonial rule and independence in West Africa

   Colonialism is political control by a foreign power. Indirect rule governed through traditional chiefs, and the colonial power kept the major decisions. Nationalism was the demand for self government, organised through parties, the press and campaigns. Describe the method. Do not attach one country's independence date to another country.

5. 5. International organisations

   The United Nations, the African Union and ECOWAS do different jobs. Compare them on who belongs, what the body was set up to do, and where it sits. Do not give a regional body a global membership it does not have, and do not describe ECOWAS as the government of Ghana.

WASSCE syllabusWASSCE Government past questionsThe constitutionArms of governmentElectionsColonialismInternational organizations

Definitions, points, and examples

A Government essay is a set of points a marker can see. The command word decides what each point must do. An example earns its place only when it is the case the question asked for.

1. 1. Match the command

   Define is the meaning. State is a short fact. Explain is that fact plus a reason. Distinguish needs both sides, kept apart. Discuss needs more than one side. A definition does not answer a question that asked for two checks or two functions.

2. 2. Define in the first line

   When the question asks what a constitution is, or what colonialism is, the meaning is the first sentence. The next sentence can add the example. Do not spend the opening restating the question.

3. 3. One point, a reason, and an example

   Build each point as a short chain. A check on the executive is the legislature questioning ministers and examining spending. That is the point and the example together. A second point needs a different check, such as a court measuring an act against the constitution.

4. 4. Keep the pairs distinct

   Written is not the same word as rigid. Free is not the same word as fair. A constitution is not a government, and a government is not an international organisation. Name the one the question asked for.

5. 5. Stay inside the sections the rubric names

   Read the front of the paper before you choose. If the instruction asks for a spread across sections, a script that stays in one section has missed the rubric, even when the essays are strong.

6. 6. No invented article or result

   Do not write a clause number you cannot defend, and do not claim a named election was stolen. The condition, the function, or the check is the mark. This page does not give a figure, and your script should not invent one.

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How to use the time

The clock is on the timetable and on the front of the paper. This page does not copy a duration. Choosing well is part of using the time.

1. 1. Read the front before you choose

   Note how many questions to answer and which section each one sits in. Choose only that many. An extra unfinished essay does not replace a section you left blank.

2. 2. Pick questions you can finish

   A question you know well, in the right section, is worth more than a question you hope to remember halfway through. Start with the one you can structure.

3. 3. Give each essay a fair share

   Plan the points for a minute or two, then write. Do not spend the sitting on the first essay and leave the later ones as headings.

4. 4. Plan in points, then write

   List the number of points the question asks for, each as a short line with its reason and its example. If two lines say the same thing, replace one before you fair copy.

5. 5. Leave a short reading at the end

   A second look catches a part you skipped, a pair of terms you swapped, and a section the rubric still needs. The exam tips cover the morning of the paper. This page does not copy a duration.

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A short way to revise

Rotate the sections. A week of constitution notes with no elections and no international organisations leaves part of the essay paper cold.

1. 1. Give each section a turn

   One session for the elements of government, one for political development in West Africa, one for international organisations. Inside each session, mix a few objective items with one written point.

2. 2. Write the definition, then close the book

   Say the meaning in one sentence, then one example, from memory. A term you can only recognise on an objective item is not a term you can open an essay with.

3. 3. Reject the wrong options

   On an objective item, say why the other options fail. Parliament judging a criminal case is a reason to reject an option. The courts do that.

4. 4. Have the answer marked

   Anna marks WASSCE Government on glearn. Kevin is the coach on BECE practice. A written answer is marked point by point. Practise with Kevin and Anna on glearn.now. The first questions need no account.

5. 5. Keep Government inside the wider plan

   The revision plan orders the weeks across every subject you sit. Social Studies shares some ideas, such as the constitution and rights, and it is still a different paper. This page does not copy a date.

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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. 1. The arms swapped

   Reports often describe a script that gives Parliament the work of the courts, or the courts the work of passing the budget. Match the arm to the job. The legislature makes law. The executive carries it out. The judiciary interprets it.

2. 2. Written confused with rigid

   Written and unwritten describe whether the rules sit in one supreme text. Rigid and flexible describe how hard amendment is. A written constitution can still set out a way to amend it. Do not treat the two pairs as one.

3. 3. A definition with no example

   Naming separation of powers and stopping there leaves the next mark behind. Add one real check: assent to a bill, scrutiny of spending, or a court measuring an act against the constitution.

4. 4. An invented article number

   A clause number that is wrong does not strengthen a point about rights or about how the constitution limits power. Describe the idea. This page does not quote an article, and your script should not invent one.

5. 5. Staying in one section

   The rubric asks for a spread when it names more than one section. Essays from only the section you prefer have not answered the paper.

6. 6. A regional body treated as a world body

   ECOWAS is West Africa. The African Union is the continent. The United Nations is the wider membership. Headquarters and membership are easy marks, and they are easy to swap.