Social Studies is a core subject for school candidates, with English Language, Core Mathematics and Integrated Science. Private candidates sit it too. WAEC sets the paper. The Ghana Education Service runs the schools. 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.
How the papers are set
The examination has two papers, and you sit both. The timetable for your series names each paper and gives the time. This page does not copy those times or the marks, 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 the syllabus in short items. You answer the items the paper asks you to answer.
Paper 2 is the essay paper. It has three sections, and those sections are the three areas of the syllabus. Section A is The Environment. Section B is Governance, Politics and Stability. Section C is Social and Economic Development. The instruction asks you to take questions from each section, and not to stay inside one section. Read the front of the paper for how many to answer. This page does not copy that number.
A strong essay in the wrong section does not replace a section you left blank. If the question paper and this page disagree, follow the question paper.
WAEC Ghana WASSCE for schoolsWAEC Ghana timetableWAEC GhanaNaCCA curriculumGhana Education Service
Topic areas from the syllabus
The WASSCE Social Studies syllabus is organised in the same three areas as the essay paper. The headings below are the main work in each area. A heading is not a promise that it appears on your paper. Glearn does not publish the official file. If this page and the file your school gives you disagree, follow the file.
1. The Environment
Self identity, adolescent reproductive health, culture and national identity, marriage, obligations in the family, responsible parenting, socialisation, and the physical environment. When the question asks for an example, put it in a Ghanaian setting.
2. Governance, politics and stability
Independence and self reliance, peace building and conflict resolution, leadership and followership, the constitution, democracy and nation building, and rights and responsibilities. Ghana is governed under the 1992 Constitution. Describe the idea. Do not invent an article number.
3. Social and economic development
Science and technology, how resources are used, population, the work people do, and what helps or holds back national development. Tie the tool or the resource to a result for people. A slogan is not an effect.
WASSCE syllabusWASSCE Social Studies past questionsThe environmentThe constitutionSocialisationScience and technologyRights and responsibilities
How to answer the essay
A WASSCE Social Studies essay is a set of points, not a speech. The rubric decides which sections you may take. The command word decides what each point must do.
1. Choose across the sections
Read the front of the paper before you choose. The instruction asks for a spread, not for every question in the section you like. A paper that stays in one section has missed the rubric, even when the essays are strong.
2. Match the command
State is a name. Explain is a name plus a reason. Discuss needs more than one side. Outline is the shape, not a second essay. A definition does not answer a question that asked for effects.
3. One chain, then the next
Cause, effect and response are three different demands. Build one chain fully, then start the next. Do not bury two points in one long sentence and hope both are seen.
4. Stay inside the question
A true fact that does not answer the question does not score. Do not add a moral the question did not ask for, and do not open with a preamble that repeats the question.
5. No invented number
Do not write a percentage, a population total, or a clause number you cannot defend. The mark is for the link: trees removed, soil exposed, farms fail. This page does not give a figure, and your script should not invent one.
6. Leave time to read it back
A second reading catches a part you skipped and a point that repeats the one above it. The exam tips cover the clock. This page does not copy a duration.
A short way to revise
Give every section a turn. A week of constitution notes with no environment and no development leaves two parts of the essay paper cold.
1. Rotate the three sections
One session for the environment, one for governance, and one for development. Inside each session, mix a few objective items with one written part.
2. Write the points before the prose
List the number of points the question asks for, each as a short line with its reason. Then write them as prose. If two lines say the same thing, replace one before you fair copy.
3. Have the essay marked
Anna marks WASSCE Social Studies on glearn. Kevin marks BECE Social Studies. A written answer is marked point by point. The first questions need no account.
4. Use a past question you have already seen
After you know the answer, close it and write the points again from memory. Recognition is not the same as producing the point.
5. Keep Social Studies 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. Staying in one section
The rubric asks for a spread across the sections. Five essays from the section you prefer, and none from the others, has not answered the paper.
2. The wrong command
A list of names where explain was asked, or a long discussion where state was asked. The command word is the task.
3. A definition with no application
Naming socialisation, or sustainable use, and stopping there. The next sentence has to show what it does in the case the question gave you.
4. Rights without responsibilities
The constitution states both. A script of freedoms with no duty has answered half of a question that asked for both.
5. An invented statistic
A percentage of forest lost, or a clause number that is wrong, does not strengthen a point. The mechanism is enough.
6. An introduction that spends the answer
Restating the question, then running out of points. Start with the first point the mark scheme can see.
Keep these open while you revise
WASSCE practiceWASSCE syllabusWASSCE Social Studies past questionsPast questions with answersWASSCE revision planHow to pass the WASSCEWASSCE exam tipsWASSCE Economics tipsWASSCE Government tipsWASSCE Financial Accounting tipsWASSCE Business Management tipsWASSCE timetableWASSCE for private candidatesWASSCE results and university admissionWASSCE grade calculatorWASSCE Geography tipsBECE Social Studies tipsCreate a free accountWAEC Ghana WASSCE for schoolsWAEC Ghana timetableNaCCA curriculumGhana Education Service
Start free on glearn.now