ICT is an elective for school candidates and for private candidates. The full name is Information and Communication Technology. WAEC Ghana lists it as ICT (Elective). You sit it only if your school entered you for it. It is not one of the core subjects every candidate sits. BECE Computing is a different paper. Many notes call that paper ICT as well. This page is the WASSCE elective. 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 ICT. Kevin marks BECE Computing.
How the papers are set
WAEC sets ICT 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. The items are drawn from the topics below.
Paper 2 is the essay paper. You do not answer every essay that is printed. Read the front of the paper for how many to choose, and answer that many. A long essay does not repair one you left blank.
Paper 3 is the practical. You work on a computer. The tasks come from the application work in the syllabus, such as a document, a spreadsheet, a publication, a database, or a short program. Do every task the paper sets as compulsory, and save each file with the name the question gives. If a centre cannot run the machines, WAEC may set an alternative to the practical. That paper asks you to show the same skills in writing. The timetable names which paper you sit. Follow the timetable.
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What to revise
Use the syllabus topics as a revision map. A topic is not a promise that every unit appears on your paper. If the file your school gives you uses a different name, follow the file.
1. Data and number bases
Data types such as whole numbers, numbers with a decimal part, and text. Binary, decimal and hexadecimal, converted by place value. Units of storage: a bit, a byte, and the larger units. Show the working when you convert. A bare result is thin when the question says show the conversion. Binary 1101 is one 8, one 4, no 2 and one 1, which is 13 in decimal.
2. Information and the internet
An information system, the kinds of system, and what makes information good: accurate, relevant, complete, and available when the decision needs it. The internet is the network. The World Wide Web is one service on it. Mail is another. Computer crime includes using a machine without permission, damaging data, and fraud. Say what the act is.
3. Hardware and software
Parts you can touch, outside the case and inside it, and what each part does. System software, including the operating system and utility programs. Application software does a job for the user. A licence says what you may copy or change. A compiler, an interpreter and an assembler turn what a programmer writes into something the machine can run.
4. Applications and databases
Word processing, including a business document and a mail merge. Desktop publishing. A spreadsheet: editing, sorting, a chart, and a formula that starts with the equals sign and uses cell addresses. A database: fields first, then rows, then a query that finds the records that match a condition. A password is not a defence if you share it.
5. Networks and programming
A network joins computers so they can share files and devices. Name the type, the shape of the connections, and what happens if one link fails. A star depends on the centre. A flow chart shows steps in order, including a decision. An algorithm is those steps written so someone else could follow them. The practical programming language in the syllabus is QBASIC. Web pages use HTML. Close a tag you open, in order.
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How to answer
The command in the question decides the shape of the answer. On the practical, the file you save is the answer.
1. Read the task before you type
On the practical, read the file name, the text you must enter, and the format asked for. Then do that task. A neat document that ignored the instruction is the wrong file.
2. Save the name the question gives
Use the file name printed on the paper. A file saved under your own name does not answer a task that named the file. Save before you move to the next task.
3. Point, then reason
On the essay, the first sentence should meet the question. Then give the reason or the example. A definition you memorised for a different question has not yet answered.
4. Show place value and cell addresses
A number base conversion needs the place values, not only the final number. A spreadsheet formula needs the equals sign and the cells it uses. A total typed by hand is not a formula.
5. Write the practical steps in order
On the alternative to the practical, describe the steps as you would do them at the machine: what you open, what you change, and what you save. A list of menu names with no order is thin.
6. Do every compulsory task
An objective item you skip, an essay you were told to answer, and a practical task you leave blank are all missing marks. Do the compulsory work before you polish a favourite task.
How to revise
Keep the work smaller than the whole subject. One topic, then a question, then the reason. Include the practical in the week, not only on the morning.
1. Rotate the papers
One session for an objective topic, one for an essay point, one at a keyboard or, if you have no machine, one written account of the steps. A week of definitions with no file saved leaves Paper 3 cold.
2. Close the book and convert again
After you know a conversion or a definition, close the note and produce it from memory. Recognition is not the same as writing the step under a clock.
3. Build one small file
Once a week, make a short document or a small spreadsheet from a written instruction, save it under a given name, and check the formula still updates when a cell changes.
4. Keep ICT inside the wider plan
The revision plan orders the weeks across every subject you sit. BECE Computing is a different paper. This page does not copy a date.
5. Have the answer marked
Anna marks WASSCE ICT on glearn. Kevin marks BECE Computing. 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. Calling the internet the web
The internet is the network. The World Wide Web is one service on it. A browser is software, not the network itself. Mail does not need a web page.
2. Swapping hardware and software
A device is hardware. A program is software. The operating system is system software, not an application. Name the category, then one example.
3. A spreadsheet total typed as text
Without the equals sign the cell is text. Without cell addresses a changed price does not update the total. Show both.
4. The wrong file name
The practical is marked from the file you were told to save. A different name, or a file you never saved, is hard to credit.
5. Steps out of order
An algorithm, a flow chart and a practical write up are sequences. A bag of true words in the wrong order does not do the task.
6. Leaving the practical blank
Paper 3, or the alternative when that is what your centre sits, is part of the scheme. A strong essay does not replace it. Practise the tasks 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