WASSCE Ghana common mistakes
WASSCE Ghana · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Writing full essay-style answers to objective (multiple-choice) questions, or leaving the answer grid unshaded because the chosen letter was only circled on the question paper.
School candidates practise long-form class exercises far more than timed objective papers, so under pressure they treat every item as 'explain' and forget that only the shaded grid is machine-marked.
What to do instead
In the last six weeks before the paper, do at least one full objective paper per week under exact timing, transferring answers to a real answer sheet each time. Train the habit of shading the grid immediately after deciding on each item, never at the end. Practise the 'circle on paper, shade on grid, cross-check in blocks of ten' routine until it is automatic.
Spending disproportionate time on the first few objective items, then guessing the last 15-20 items in the final minutes.
Objective papers reward speed but candidates are used to untimed classroom work; early items often look familiar and invite over-checking, and there is no practised internal clock.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed per-item budget (for a 50-item, 1-hour paper that is roughly 60 seconds per item, leaving 10 minutes to review). Do three timed mini-papers of 20 items in 20 minutes to build pace, marking any item that takes longer than the budget with a star and moving on. Return to starred items only after the paper is finished once through.
In the essay/structured theory paper, writing everything known about the topic instead of answering the specific command word (state, describe, explain, discuss, compare) and the marks allocated.
Candidates revise topics, not question stems; school practice often rewards volume, and the number of marks per sub-question is not used to gauge how many points are needed.
What to do instead
Before writing, underline the command word and the mark allocation of each sub-question. Map marks to points: a 2-mark 'state' needs two short factual points, a 4-mark 'explain' needs two points each with a reason, a 6-mark 'discuss' needs a balanced argument. Practise converting past-style stems into point plans in two minutes, then write only to the plan.
Losing marks on practical/science questions by omitting units, significant figures, or the observation linked to the inference (e.g. writing a conclusion with no stated observation).
In class, teachers often accept the final number; in the examination the marking scheme rewards the full chain of observation, inference and correct presentation, and candidates have rarely seen a mark scheme.
What to do instead
Build a personal checklist per practical topic: state readings with units and the instrument used, record observations before inferences, and give the inference separately from the observation. Work through marked practical questions where the mark scheme is visible, and rewrite your own answer against it, noting each lost mark and its cause.
Ignoring the instructions on the front of the paper and the rubric of section-based papers, e.g. answering all questions when only a set number may be attempted, or answering more questions than required and expecting the best ones to count.
Examination conventions differ between subjects and papers, and candidates rely on what a friend or a previous year's paper said rather than reading the current instructions.
What to do instead
Read the rubric of every practice paper aloud before starting and write the required number of questions at the top of your rough sheet. In mock conditions, deliberately practise selecting the required number of questions within the first five minutes, and check at the end that the count matches the rubric exactly.
Misreading the stem of objective questions, especially negatives and 'except' items, and choosing the first option that looks familiar.
Under time pressure candidates pattern-match to a remembered phrase rather than parsing the whole sentence; words like NOT, EXCEPT and INCORRECT are small and easily skipped.
What to do instead
Adopt a two-pass reading habit: first read the stem and underline the key word (including any negative), then read all options before choosing. For negative stems, rephrase the question in your own words in the margin. Drill sets of 20 mixed positive/negative items and log every misread as a distinct error type.
In private-candidate preparation, studying only the textbook and never working a full past paper under timed conditions, so timing, question style and mark allocation remain unfamiliar.
Private candidates often study alone, may be resitting, and have no teacher setting mock papers; they revise content in the order of the textbook rather than in the format of the examination.
What to do instead
Build a timetable that reserves at least one third of study time for timed past-style papers, one per week per subject from the start of preparation. After each, mark against the scheme, record the topic and error type of every lost mark, and spend the following week's content revision only on those weak topics.
Private candidates missing or misjudging registration and entry details (subject/paper codes, correct personal details, entry deadlines) and arriving without the required identification or stationery.
There is no school to process entries and remind them; information is scattered across notices and candidates assume a previous year's arrangements still apply.
What to do instead
Obtain the current year's examination timetable and entry instructions from the official examining body, not from informal sources. Create a checklist covering subject and paper codes, personal details, deadlines, centre location, identification and permitted stationery, and confirm each item with the examination centre at least a month before the paper.
Private candidates studying in isolation without feedback, so repeated errors in written answers (structure, terminology, depth) go uncorrected across many papers.
There is no teacher marking work; self-marking tends to check whether the content is mentioned rather than whether the answer matches the command word and mark scheme.
What to do instead
Mark written work strictly against a mark scheme, awarding a mark only where the point matches the scheme's wording, and keep an error log by command word and topic. Where possible, join a study group or find a tutor for periodic marking of one full paper, focusing feedback on structure and terminology rather than content coverage.
Cramming several subjects in the final days and revising by rereading notes, producing familiarity without the ability to recall or apply under exam conditions.
Both school and private candidates confuse recognition while reading with retrievable knowledge; last-minute panic encourages passive review of everything rather than active testing of weak areas.
What to do instead
Replace rereading with active recall: closed-book topic tests, blank-diagram labelling and past-paper questions, spaced over the final weeks. Use the error log to choose what to revisit, and in the last 48 hours review only summaries, formulae and the error log, not new material.