Following the release of the 2023 BECE Chief Examiner’s Report for English Language, the Education-News Portal has shared the report here with additional explanation to help students and English teachers prepare adequately for the BECE this year.

Let us take a careful look at the 2023 BECE Chief Examiner’s Report For English Language And How To Use It To Prepare for 2025 BECE

1. GENERAL COMMENTS From The 2023 BECE Chief Examiner’s Report For English Language

The standard of the paper is comparable to that of previous years. The essay topics comprised the different genres of formal letter writing, storytelling (i.e., narrative) and article writing.

The content of the comprehension passage was within the experience and understanding of the J.H.S. students. The sentences and the vocabulary used were also within the reach of the candidates.

With literature, there was general improvement as more candidates attempted the questions compared to previous years.

2. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ STRENGTHS

(1) The formal features for the different essay types were observed, e.g., the features of a formal letter and article writing. (2) The standard of sentence constructions had improved in some cases.
(3) For the comprehension test, many candidates scored more than ten marks out of a total mark of thirty.
(4) Candidates’ paragraphing and paragraph linkages improved.

3. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES

[a] Some of the candidates mixed up the features of formal letter writing and with the features of article writing. For example, in some cases there was no recipient’s address and no heading; for the subscription, some candidates wrote their names before appending their signatures instead of the other way round – signatures before full name.

For the article, some candidates did not write their names and addresses at the end of the essay.
A few candidates copied the comprehension passage for their essays. With literature, it was evident that some candidates had not read the textbook at all.

The above general weakness is worrying; if teachers of English Language at the Junior High School fail to groom and polish their candidates for the 2025 BECE, these same mistakes will be repeated by students. At the Education-News Consult, we continue to alert schools and parents who take our premium mock examination on these same issues.

Students often know the features but for some reason they either get confused or are just too lazy to read through their compositions carefully to detect these errors.

Sometimes, candidates even mix up the features of the essay they are answering. One key way to avoid this problem in the exam hall is for students to practise more and master the features of each of the types of essays.

Candidates must be able to first of all tell the kind of essay they have before them. Then go a step further to brainstorm and list the features of such essays in the correct order on their question papers before they attempt answering the questions. Teachers can help students practise such brainstorming sessions by giving students a set of, say, 3 essays and asking them to write out the following.

The type of essay or composition question is. For example, It is a formal letter, an informal letter, semi formal letter, an article for publication, among others. If a candidate cannot tell the type of essay the three questions given are, then there is a problem because, if they choose a question, they are likely not to be able to answer the question well.
The next thing is for the students to list the features of each of the essays they have been asked to write in an orderly manner. If the students mix up the features or they do not know them, it will indirectly reflect in their written answer (essay) to the question and the results would often not be good.

READ: WEAC just changed 2025 BECE Timetable and date, BECE starts on 10 June? Facts Checked

4. SUGGESTED REMEDIES FROM WAEC TO DEAL WITH THIS WEAKNESSES

(1) The subject should be taught by persons who have obtained at least a Diploma (in English) at the JHS level.
(2) Teachers should give more exercises to the pupils in all aspects of the language (English composition, comprehension and grammar)
(3) Pupils/students should be encouraged to read widely.

5. DETAILED COMMENTS

PART A (ESSAY)
Q1. Write a letter to the Director of Health of your district, discussing two ways in which the activities of some food sellers affect the health of people in your community and suggest one solution to the problem. This was a formal letter and it had to be treated as such – with all the formal features. Many Candidates attempted it and the general performance was good.

Q2. Narrate an interesting story that ends with the statement, Indeed, it was a great
achievement.

This was a narrative, a story that ends with the statement, “Indeed it was a great achievement”. Not many candidates attempted this topic. The few who did, wrote all kinds of stories and just tagged the statement at the end of it. There was no logical flow from beginning, climax and end of the story. The performance here was below average.

Q3. Write an article for publication in a national newspaper on two effects of poor disposal of waste on the people and suggest two ways of solving the problem. Many candidates attempted this topic and they were mindful of the features of an article – the heading, the body of the essay, and the writer’s name and address at the end of the
body. Those who attempted this topic did well.

Q4. Comprehension

PART B (COMPREHENSION)

a. This was a very easy question. Almost all the candidates got the answers correct.
b. The answers were ‘they performed poor academically OR it affected their academic performance. Since pupils could perform all kinds of duties, the words academically or academic were emphasised.Without any of them, the candidate lost half a mark.

Another point was that the candidates were often absent from school or they were not regular at school. Just stating ‘absenteeism’ , the candidate lost half a mark. “They were not punctual” was wrong.

c. Many candidates answered this question incorrectly because it was an implied question. The correct answer for the question were: it was a community problem. She wanted the work to be done effectively. She and the staff could not have solved the problem on their own.

d. The two questions here were implied questions. However, many students got the answers correct.

e. Candidates were asked to explain the following expressions:
(i) one thing puzzled her
(ii) often under the weather
(iii)all hands were on deck

What must be reserved here is that no word in the given expressions should be repeated in the candidate’s response.

For example, in (i) it was wrong to write
“Something worried her” because her was repeated. The right answers were ..“She was not clear about something” or “she could not understand/explain something.

For iii “All hands were on deck”, we expected
answers like “Everybody was involved”, or Everybody worked (very) hard.

f. For the lexical items, candidates should take into consideration the tense, the part of speech, the number (whether singular or plural) of the word and its environment, e.g. noticed – the answer should be saw or realised (not see or realise). perform – do or work but not do well. This can’t fit into the sentence. We can’t do well better in school.

PART C (LITERATURE)

All the questions were based on the text from The cockcrow – compiled by John A. Sackey and Lawrence Darmani.
The fact that some candidates did not answer any question on Literature is an indication that they did not read the set book.

6. CONCLUSION
The standard that has been set for the BECE was maintained. Both the questions and rubrics were clear. The marking scheme was quite comprehensive. Many alternative answers were given for some of the questions.

The 2023 BECE Chief Examiner’s Report For English Language and the suggestions provided are clear enough to help in students preperation. Teachers and learners must take this report seriously as they get ready for the BECE again.

Tags: BECE Chief Examiner's English Language Report