5 Reasons Why Candidates Fail 2016 Physics Practical in WAEC

In line with the release made by West Africa Examination Council [WAEC], these are the reasons why candidates fail 2016 physics Practical in WAEC. This information is pretty useful to prospective candidates and subject’s instructors as it will serve as baseline guideline when preparing students for the next WAEC examination.

Candidates’ Weaknesses

The following were observed as the candidates’ weaknesses that cause failure:

1. Inability to indicate units of measured and calculated values
2. Inability to distinguished graph axes
3. Unable to choose reasonable scales to plot graph
4. Inability to plot graph correctly
5. Unable to state precautions in acceptable language.

Suggested Recommendations

Consequently, having identified the peculiar weaknesses from the examination, the following remedies were proffered to overcome the weaknesses:

1. Teachers should expose potential candidates to practical work early enough;
2. Physics should be allotted more time in the school time table;
3. Adequate apparatus should be provided in the laboratory;
4. Teachers should endeavor to attend WAEC coordination and marking exercise to acquire more experience;
5. Adequate teachers should be employed to teach students from SSI to SS3;

Candidates’ Strengths

Most of the candidates were able to:

1. measure and record to the required decimal places
2. chose reasonable scales to plot graph
3. plot graph correctly
4. measure, calculate and record in tabular form
5. state precautions in an acceptable language
6. determine the slope and intercept
7. defined terms correctly

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