NECO English study guide
NECO English · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The NECO Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Internal is the school-leaving examination the National Examinations Council conducts for candidates at the end of their secondary education. English Language is the subject covered on this page. The NECO English study guide has 5 sections and about 1,618 words.
01Essay Writing
NECO English Language Paper 2, Section A asks you to write one essay of about 450 words chosen from several topics. The topics cover narrative, descriptive, argumentative and expository writing, and usually at least one letter (formal or informal), plus sometimes an article, speech or report.
357 words, about 2 min02Comprehension
Comprehension in NECO English Language Paper 2 presents a passage of roughly 400–500 words followed by questions testing literal understanding, inference, vocabulary in context, pronoun reference, figures of speech and the grammatical function of words. Marks go to answers that show understanding, not to answers lifted word for word from the passage.
290 words, about 1 min03Summary
NECO summary questions ask you to read a passage and then, in continuous prose and your own words , state the main points of a named part of it - for example In six sentences, summarise the reasons the writer gives for rural–urban migration. Marks are awarded for the number of correct points captured, not for length.
334 words, about 2 min04Lexis and Structure
Lexis and Structure is the objective section of NECO English Language. Lexis tests vocabulary - synonyms, antonyms, idioms, phrasal verbs and collocations; Structure tests grammar - concord, tense and aspect, conditionals, pronouns, prepositions, modifiers, question tags and punctuation.
309 words, about 2 min05Oral English (Test of Orals)
NECO's Test of Orals (Paper 3) checks how well you hear and describe spoken English. Items ask you to identify vowel or consonant sounds in words, choose a word that rhymes, pick the correctly stressed syllable, or recognise intonation patterns and minimal pairs.
328 words, about 2 min