WASSCE Candidates’ Weaknesses In Biology And Remedies | Extract From Chief Examiners Report Towards WASSCE 2023
Teachers preparing students for any examination are always worried about the potential weaknesses in answers that their students will provide during the examination. Fortunately, the main examining body, the West Africa Examination Council always provide WASSCE candidates’ weaknesses in Biology during the last held examinations.
WAEC Summary of 2021 WASSCE Biology Paper Two (2)
A. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ STRENGTHS
(1) Most candidates displayed some improvement in expressing themselves well in English.
(2) Candidates exhibited satisfactory knowledge in the following questions: Components of human blood and its related; components; dentition and care of teeth in animals; Basic ecological concepts regarding autotrophs (producers), heterotrophs (consumers) and decomposers; the DNA structure with respect to name of bond and name of enzyme that breaks the bond during DNA replication; the concept of magnification as used in Biological drawing; generation time as used in bacterial culture in question and Biological fuel generation.
(3) Many candidates complied with the Paper instructions which required that they should answer two questions only from Section A and all the questions in Section B.
B. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES
(1) Candidates could not provide acceptable Biological diagrams to show the stages of white blood cell destroying a pathogen as in question 1 (e). The rubrics regarding biological drawings such as (i) clarity of lines which involves lines of drawing should not be wooly or broken at some points (ii) neatness of labels e.g. guidelines must be ruled using ruler, labels must be written horizontally, guidelines must not cross each other etc. and avoidance of shading drawings were all abused.
(2) Technical terms were wrongly spelt e.g. names of blood components as in question 1(a, b & c);
(3) Candidates could not appropriately describe the generalized structure of a tooth in animals.
(4) Poor performance regarding the conservation of natural resources as in question 4 (a, b & c);
(5) Candidates failed to name the: (i) components of the illustrated DNA molecule as in 5 (a), (ii) membrane covering each of the listed organs in humans as in 5 (d);
(6) Candidates could not (i) distinguish between test cross and back cross as used in genetics in question 5 (e) and (ii) give causes of species extinction as in 5 (h).
C. SUGGESTED REMEDIES
(1) Candidates should read all instructions to the paper and follow them to the letter.
(2) Tutors should take their students through spelling drills with respect to technical terms.
(3) Tutors should encourage their students to work sufficient tutorials and assignments on how to provide concise and accurate answers.
(4) Tutors should ensure that candidates know and understand the rubrics of Biological drawing.
(5) Tutors should teach candidates techniques of answering questions bothering on description
WAEC Summary of 2020 WASSCE Biology Paper Two (2)
A. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ STRENGTHS
(1) Most candidates displayed some improvement in expressing themselves well in the English Language.
(2) Candidates exhibited satisfactory knowledge in the following topics:
(a) animal nutrition in regarding deficiency diseases, their remedies and food tests as in questions 2(a & b); preservation and storage of foods and examples of food types that can be preserved in silos and refrigerators as in question 3 (b);
(b) ecology of population especially factors that affect population size as in question 3 (c); classification of vertebrates in their evolutionary trend with examples as in question 4 (b);
(c) transport in plants/guttation and biological principles underlying guttation as in question 5(a);
(d) organelles involved in protein synthesis and source of amino acids used in synthesizing proteins in cells as in question 5(c);
(e) life processes performed by living organisms as in question 5 (e) and
(f) Biology as a source of life as in question 5 (f).
(3) Candidates complied with the Paper instructions which required that they should answer two questions only from Section A and all the questions in Section B.
B. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES
(1) Candidates could not list supporting tissues in plants and state the characteristic feature each that adapts each of the supporting tissues listed as in question 1 (a).
(2) Candidates failed to go by the rubrics regarding biological drawings as in question 1(b) with respect to making diagram of the transverse section of monocotyledonous stem. For example:
(a) clarity of lines which involves lines of drawing should not be wooly or broken at some points;
(b) neatness of labels e.g., guidelines must be ruled using ruler, labels must be written horizontally, guidelines must not cross each other etc. shading of drawings must be avoided etc. all were not complied with.
(3) Technical terms were wrongly spelt as such as names of supporting tissues as in question 1(a),
(a) spelling of labels of diagram of transverse section of monocotyledonous stem as in (b), names of nutrient deficiency diseases as in 2 (b) (ii),
(b) examples of food types that can be preserved in the storage facilities as in 3(b)
(c) factors that affect population size of living organisms as in 3 (c),
(d) classes of vertebrates in their evolutionary trends and example of each class of vertebrates as in 4 (b),
(e) list of organelles involved in protein synthesis as in 5 (b) (i) and naming the branch of Biology concerned with the study of tissues,
(f) plants, DNA and the environment as in 5 (f).
C. SUGGESTED REMEDIES
(1) Candidates should read all instructions to the paper and follow them to the letter.
(2) Tutors should take their students through spelling drills with respect to technical terms.
(3) Tutors should encourage their students to work sufficient tutorials and assignments on how to provide concise and accurate answers.
(4) Tutors should ensure that candidates know and understand the rubrics of the subjec
WAEC Summary of 2021 WASSCE Biology Paper Three (3)
A. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ STRENGTHS
(1) Candidates showed appreciable strength in the area of classification;
(2) With respect to adaptation of organisms to life processes, candidates were able to provide appropriate responses;
(3) Candidates observed the requirement to tabulate differences while a good number of candidates considered the matching features of the organisms to state the differences;
(4) Candidates showed improvement in the spelling of scientific terms;
(5) It was clear that candidates had not done enough exercises on biological drawing. Requirements for title, quality, and details were not observed by many candidates.
B. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES
(1) Candidates showed obvious weakness in the area concerning specific habitats which required candidates to relate adaptive features of organisms to their habitats. Candidates could not provide the expected adaptive features of plants that naturally grow in deserts and savanna;
(2) Candidates were ill-prepared for report writing based on biological experiment. A number of students could not distinguish steps involved in observation and conclusion.
C. SUGGESTED REMEDIES
(1) Instructors should include biological drawing of organisms in the practical lessons on classification. Attention of students should be drawn to the four dimensions which are used to assess biological drawing.
(2) Instructors should observe that the topic ecology is a key pillar in the subject Biology, and therefore due attention should be given to this aspect. Ecological trips to ponds to study hydrophytes; to rain forest to study epiphytes, to savanna to look at geophytes, will expose students to vegetation of these habitats. Arid zone conditions, to study xerophytes, can be obtained at the splash zones of seashores or some area at the fringes of savanna. Xerophytes can also be obtained at botanical gardens.
(3) There are a number of simple physiological processes that can easily be demonstrated in practical lessons for students to appreciate the stages of report writing and also learn to make appropriate observation. These include enzyme activities under different conditions; water-culture experiments, osmosis using tissue in-solutions of different conc. of plants at different densities or involving inter specific competition.
WAEC Summary of 2020 WASSCE Biology Paper Three (3)
A. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ STRENGTHS
(1) Candidates showed marked improvement in relating structural features of organisms to their functions as well as to their habitats.
(2) Candidates presented differences between organisms in the tabular format as required.
(3) Candidates gave precise economic importance of cockroach and moss plant.
B. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES
(1) Technical terms and scientific words were wrongly spelt.
(2) Many candidates failed to adhere to the guidelines regarding biological drawings.
(3) Candidates exhibited little knowledge in tools used for collecting specimens.
C. SUGGESTED REMEDIES
(1) Teachers should take their students through drills and assignments with respect to technical terms and their descriptions.
(2) Students should master the art of relating observed features of organisms to their functions.
(3) Teachers should draw the attention of students to the importance of observing the rules of binomial nomenclature.
(4) Teachers should organize regular practical lesson to assist students to develop keen observation skills and be guided to adhere to the guidelines of biological drawing.
It is the hope of our team that candidates will perform better when teachers and candidates go through this summary of strengths, WASECE candidates’ weaknesses in Biology and remedies and apply same.
Source: waecgh.org
About Author
Join our social media platforms
Join Educative News Room for regular updates about related topics
Join Telegram or Join WhatsApp or Join Facebook or Join Twitter(X)