How to answer questions involving Define, State during WASSCE

In exams like WASSCE or BECE, how you answer questions can significantly impact your grade. While you may know the content, understanding how to tackle different question types is crucial. In this article, we will look at key terms often encountered in these exams, such as ‘explain,’ ‘list,’ ‘define,’ ‘enumerate,’ and ‘what is.’ Understanding how to approach each type of question can greatly enhance your exam performance.

1. Define

This simply means to explain and describe the meaning and exact limits of something. It must be short and brief.

2. List

This simply means to give or state in numbers the items to the given question. They are usually short answers. It is also a series of names or other items written or printed together in a meaningful grouping or sequence so as to constitute a record.

List also means present concise, itemised information in bullet points or table form. Outline – Give an overview of a subject in an organised way, without going into too much detail. This is similar to state.

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3. What Is

This is what most students get it wrong. Most candidates believe that the word ‘what’ in exams means to give the short possible answer. Well, this is the opposite of what most candidates believe. What actually means to give in details the answer to a given question. It questions detailed information and also examples. For Example, whan one is given a question stating ‘What is Education?’, the answer to this must be in details. Candidates should state the forms of education in the definition as well

4. Enumerate

Enumerate means to name or list things one by one. Enumerate is typically used as a more formal alternative to the verb list. It emphasizes the fact that things are being specifically identified and listed one at a time. Less commonly, enumerate simply means to count

5. Explain

This simply means to expound, explicate, elucidate, interpret mean to make something clear or understandable. explain implies a making plain or intelligible what is not immediately obvious or entirely known.

6. Solve

This means to find an answer to, explanation for, or means of effectively dealing with a problem or mystery. The word solve originally came from the Latin solvere, which meant “to loosen or untie.” If you think of any kind of complex problem as a knot, then the original definition of solve still makes sense. This is usually used in mathematics. You should know that how you answer WASSCE questions really matter.

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If you master and practice with the tips shared in the How to answer WASSCE questions involving Define, State, List, What, Enumerate and Explain post, you should begin to see improvement in your performance.

Wisdom K.E Hammond

Ghanaeducation.org is founded by Wisdom Kojo Eli Hammond, a distinguished Ghanaian Edu-Tech Entrepreneur, AI Solutions Developer, and Product Architect with over 25 years of cross-disciplinary experience in education, finance, and digital media. Wisdom is the visionary force behind SkulManager, Ghana’s premier school management ecosystem, and the Lead Consultant at Education-News Consult.
A self-taught innovator, professional Web Designer, and regular columnist on GhanaWeb, Wisdom engineered SkulManager.com as the only platform strictly tailored to the GES curriculum. His technical leadership has redefined educational assessment through a hybrid marking ecosystem, pioneering the BECE and WASSCE Home Mock services—a unique fusion of WAEC-trained human examiners and advanced AI marking engines operational since 2022.