12 Reasons Why Candidates Fail 2012 Chemistry WAEC Practical

Practical is meant to add up to the students score if well done, but many students rush over the section, forgetting that, it is an integral part of the paper and this has led to many failures. This piece is opined to elaborate on the Reasons Why Candidates Fail 2012 Chemistry WAEC Practical. Below are the reasons:

The weaknesses that were observed generally in the scripts of the candidates include:

1. Copying out the questions on the answer booklet before writing out the answers.
2. Disorderly presentation of answers e.g., part of question 2 appearing after question 4.
3. Drawing of poor diagrams with loss of details.
4. Production of diagrams with woolly and broken lines, free hand guidelines and non-horizontal labels.
5. Not giving titles or magnifications for diagrams and not conforming to size specifications.
6. Poor spelling of labels, technical terms and one-word answers
7. Using of abbreviations and SMS English to answer questions e.g., Btw instead of between.
8. Poor grasp of English Language.
9. inability to write chemical formulae accurately and balance chemical equation;
10. inability to answer questions on biotechnology;
11. poor knowledge of electrochemical cell and its related calculations;
12. poor knowledge of redox reactions.

WAEC Recommendations

The following remedies were however suggested

1. candidates should familiarize themselves with the required syllabus;
2. teachers should emphasize on areas of the syllabus where candidates appear to be weak such as electro chemistry, redox reaction and nuclear reaction;
3. candidates should acquire relevant text books;
4. experts/professionals should be employed to teach the subject;
5. teachers should be encouraged to attend/participate in marking coordination to update themselves.

The Candidates’ Strengths

Candidates showed improvement in the following areas of:

1. definition of various Chemistry terms/terminologies;
2. statements of laws;
3. organic Chemistry;
4. structure of atom and atomic theory;
5. kinetic theory and gas Laws;
6. stoichiometry of reactions;
7. chemical equilibrium;
8. nuclear chemistry;
9. properties of metals and non-metals.

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