Cameroon GCE O-Level Food and Nutrition common mistakes
Cameroon GCE O-Level Food and Nutrition · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Writing that 'protein is for energy' or that vitamins 'give energy', and listing nutrients without stating their function in the body.
Candidates memorise nutrient names from class notes but never learn the function-source-deficiency triad, so under exam pressure they default to the vague phrase 'for growth and energy' for every nutrient.
What to do instead
Build a three-column table for each nutrient (function / two local sources / deficiency sign) and practise writing one full sentence per nutrient, e.g. 'Vitamin A keeps the lining of the eye healthy; palm oil and dark green leaves such as huckleberry (eru) supply it; lack causes night blindness.' Test yourself by covering the function column and reciting it.
Confusing the site of digestion with the site of absorption, e.g. saying 'protein is digested in the small intestine and absorbed in the stomach', or stating that digestion of starch begins in the stomach.
Digestion is taught as a list of organs rather than as a sequence with enzymes, pH and end products, so candidates shuffle the order and omit bile, pancreatic juice and villi.
What to do instead
Draw one flow diagram from mouth to colon with three annotations per stop: enzyme, substrate, end product. Add a separate note on bile (made in liver, stored in gallbladder, emulsifies fat, no enzyme) and on villi (absorption, surface area). Redraw it from memory twice a week.
Planning a day's meals that are nutritionally sound on paper but culturally implausible - no staple, no relish, no fruit, or three heavy starch meals with no legume or green leaf.
Candidates copy textbook Western menus or list nutrients instead of foods, forgetting that a Cameroonian meal is built around a starchy base (fufu, plantain, rice, cassava, maize) plus a relish or sauce and often fruit.
What to do instead
Use a fixed planning frame: base + protein relish (beans, fish, egg, groundnut, meat) + vegetable + fruit + drink, then check it against the food groups. Practise planning one day for a schoolchild, one for a pregnant woman and one for an elderly person using only foods sold in a local market.
Giving dietary advice for pregnancy, infancy or old age that is identical to the adult advice, or recommending abrupt changes such as stopping breastfeeding or giving strong tea to infants.
Life-cycle needs are learned as a single paragraph, so candidates miss the specific additions: extra iron and folate in pregnancy, exclusive breastfeeding to six months, energy-dense soft foods for the elderly.
What to do instead
Make a life-cycle grid (infant, preschool, school-age, adolescent, pregnancy/lactation, adult, elderly) with columns for extra nutrient, local food to supply it and one food to avoid. Learn three anchor facts per stage and quote them by name in answers.
Describing food storage and preservation in general terms ('keep it cool and dry') without naming the method, the principle behind it and the local example.
Candidates know the words drying, smoking, salting and fermentation but cannot explain what each does to micro-organisms or water activity, so answers stay vague and earn few marks.
What to do instead
For each method write: principle (removes water / raises salt concentration / lowers pH / excludes air / lowers temperature) plus a local example (sun-dried cassava, smoked fish, salted meat, fermented cassava for gari, refrigeration). Practise the sentence 'Method X preserves food because it does Y, for example Z.'
Confusing food poisoning with food spoilage, or naming 'germs' as the only cause of food-borne illness without distinguishing bacterial toxins, moulds and chemical contamination.
Hygiene is revised as a list of rules ('wash hands, cover food') rather than as causes and effects, so candidates cannot classify an illness or explain why reheated rice or bulged tins are dangerous.
What to do instead
Learn four cause categories with one example each: bacteria (Salmonella in undercooked chicken and eggs), toxins (Staphylococcus toxin in left-over food kept warm), moulds (aflatoxin on damp groundnuts and maize), chemicals (pesticide residue, unwashed containers). Link each to a control measure and practise classifying short scenarios.
Writing cooking-method answers that name the method but never explain the effect on nutrients, texture, colour or flavour, e.g. 'boiling is cooking in water' with nothing else.
Candidates memorise method names and equipment lists and treat the 'effect on food' part as optional, so they lose the marks that carry the most weight.
What to do instead
For every method (boiling, steaming, frying, grilling, baking, stewing) prepare four lines: what happens to water-soluble vitamins, what happens to texture and colour, what happens to fat content, and one local dish that uses it (e.g. steamed ripe plantain, deep-fried puff-puff, grilled fish). Answer in that order every time.
Giving a first-aid answer for a food-related emergency that is either dangerous (inducing vomiting after a corrosive or giving food to an unconscious person) or incomplete (no mention of stopping the exposure and getting help).
Candidates learn first aid from hearsay and films, and the exam often asks about choking, burns, scalds or suspected poisoning where the wrong action causes harm.
What to do instead
Learn a fixed four-step frame: make safe and stop the exposure, assess the casualty, give the specific measure (five back blows then abdominal thrusts for choking; cool a burn under running water for at least ten minutes; nothing by mouth and no induced vomiting for corrosives), then refer to a health facility. For each emergency write the frame out in full.
Describing a practical dish without quantities, unit costs or a work plan, so the examiner cannot judge costing, sequencing or hygiene during preparation.
Candidates treat the practical question as a recipe recall task and forget that marks are awarded for the mise en place, the order of work, cost per portion and the presentation and serving plan.
What to do instead
Practise writing a one-page practical plan for five local dishes: ingredient list with quantities and prices, total cost and cost per portion, numbered work plan with timings, hygiene points, and a serving suggestion with garnish. Time yourself so the plan can be written in ten minutes.
Answering consumer and food-economics questions with slogans ('buy in bulk, avoid waste') rather than with a decision, a reason and a local consequence.
Consumer education is seen as common sense, so candidates do not practise applying it to price comparison, unit pricing, reading labels, seasonal buying, budgeting or choosing between fresh and processed foods.
What to do instead
For each topic learn one worked example with numbers: compare cost per kilogram of two package sizes, or plan a family food budget for a week from local market prices, and state the decision plus the reason. Practise the pattern 'Choose X because Y, which means Z for the family.'