ENAM Cycle B Cameroon common mistakes
ENAM Cycle B Cameroon · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Reciting general knowledge facts about Cameroon (geography, history, institutions) without linking them to the specific administrative or legal question asked, producing an answer that is factually rich but off-topic.
Candidates memorise encyclopaedic lists and then reproduce them wholesale, because the syllabus is broad and they fear omitting content; they never practise matching facts to the precise wording of the question.
What to do instead
Practise 'question dissection': for each past-style prompt, underline the exact verb (définir, comparer, expliquer) and the object, then write a one-line plan before answering so every fact serves the question asked.
Confusing the roles and composition of Cameroon's central institutions (Président de la République, Gouvernement, Assemblée nationale, Sénat, Conseil constitutionnel, Conseil économique et social) in answers about who does what.
Institutions share overlapping-sounding functions (e.g., legislative initiative, constitutional review) and candidates learn them as isolated lists rather than as a system of competences.
What to do instead
Build a single comparison table per institution with columns: composition, mode of designation, core competences, and checks on other bodies; then answer institution questions from that table only.
Treating 'droit administratif' and 'droit constitutionnel' interchangeably, for example applying constitutional review logic to an administrative act or citing the Constitution where an administrative legality question is asked.
Both domains use similar vocabulary (légalité, contrôle, recours) and candidates revise them together without distinguishing the judge, the act and the remedy involved.
What to do instead
For each scenario, first name the act (loi, règlement, acte administratif) and the competent judge (Conseil constitutionnel vs juge administratif), then select the applicable rules; drill this identification step separately from the substantive answer.
Writing answers on public finance that describe the budget cycle in vague generalities without naming the key instruments and actors (loi de finances, ordonnancement, contrôle a posteriori, Cour des comptes, MINFI).
Candidates rely on newspaper-level summaries and lack precise procedural vocabulary, so they pad answers with general statements about 'good management of public funds'.
What to do instead
Memorise the budget chain as a sequence (préparation, vote, exécution, contrôle) with the responsible body at each stage, and rehearse writing it in under ten minutes without notes.
Answering economics questions with definitions only, omitting mechanisms, causes and consequences (e.g., defining inflation without explaining its sources or its effects on the Cameroonian economy).
Under time pressure candidates default to the safest memorised definition and stop, because they have not practised developing a short economic argument.
What to do instead
Use a fixed three-move structure for every economics answer: definition, mechanism (cause→effect chain), and a concrete consequence or example; practise applying it to five standard topics until it is automatic.
Producing a dissertation or structured essay with no clear problématique, drifting into a catalogue of unrelated paragraphs and ending without a conclusion that answers the question.
Candidates were taught the form (introduction, two parts, conclusion) but not how to derive a problématique from the subject, so structure becomes decorative rather than argumentative.
What to do instead
Before writing, draft a one-sentence problématique and a two-part outline with a stated link between the parts; time-box this planning to five minutes and stick to the plan while writing.
Making grammar and spelling errors in French that undermine otherwise correct content, notably confused endings (é/er), missing accents, and faulty agreement of past participles.
Candidates revise content almost exclusively and rarely proofread, so recurring mechanical errors survive into the exam copy and cost marks on the language criterion.
What to do instead
Keep a personal error log of the five mistakes you make most often, and reserve the final five minutes of every practice essay for a targeted reread checking only those five points.
Misreading the instruction verb or the scope of the subject, for example writing a description when 'analyser' or 'discuter' is requested, or answering a broad subject with a single narrow example.
Candidates skim the subject in the first minute of the exam and start writing immediately, projecting a familiar topic onto the prompt.
What to do instead
Reformulate the subject in your own words in one sentence at the top of the draft and check your outline against it before writing; if the reformulation does not match the verb, reread the prompt.
Using outdated or imprecise facts about Cameroonian public administration (current institutional organisation, decentralisation framework, recent reforms) presented as certain.
Candidates rely on older notes or hearsay and do not verify, because they assume general knowledge questions tolerate approximation.
What to do instead
Maintain a dated fact sheet of institutional and legal references, verify each entry against an official source before the exam, and in the copy flag any uncertain point rather than asserting it as fact.
Running out of time because the candidate spends too long on the first question, leaving the last exercise (often the writing or methodology task) rushed or blank.
No timed rehearsal under exam conditions means candidates have no sense of how long each section should take.
What to do instead
Do at least three full timed mock exams with a fixed minute budget per section, and practise the discipline of moving on when the budget for a question is spent, returning only if time remains.