How to Pass WAEC GCE English and Maths
Diagnose your weak topics first, then spend the time before your next sitting drilling the places you actually lose marks. In English, that means daily objective practice plus at least two marked essays and two summaries a week; in Maths, it means full-working practice across the syllabus, with extra time on areas WAEC's chief examiners name as weak, such as bearing, geometry and graphs. Learn the command words in exam questions so you answer exactly what is asked. There is no shortcut. WAEC's final timetable for the 2026 second series has no papers after 28 October 2026.
English Language and Mathematics are compulsory in the WASSCE for Private Candidates, so you cannot leave either one out. WAEC's final timetable for the 2026 second series has no papers after 28 October 2026 (General Mathematics was on 3 October and English Language on 17 October), so this guide is for your next sitting: spend your time on diagnosis, your weak areas and timed practice rather than passive rereading. This guide lays out what actually moves marks in each subject, plus two practice tasks you can start on today.
Last checked against the awarding body's own page. Dates move: if yours matters, check it there too.
Diagnose before you study
Whatever time you have before your next sitting, spend the first three days finding out exactly where you lose marks. Take a full-length practice paper in each subject under timed conditions, or use the free quiz tool on this site to test yourself topic by topic and let the results show you the pattern. WAEC's chief examiners' reports have named summary writing in English, and geometry and bearings in Maths, among candidates' weak areas. Write your own weak topics down and build your plan around them, not around a generic syllabus checklist. When WAEC publishes the timetable for your next sitting, download it from WAEC's own site, because your paper dates decide which subject gets priority in your final fortnight.
Learn the command words before anything else
WAEC's chief examiners list failing to grasp what questions demand, and poor interpretation of questions, among candidates' weaknesses. Many questions use a command word, such as state, explain, calculate or compare, and it tells you what the question wants you to do. In Maths, when a question asks you to calculate, evaluate or simplify, show your working, not just a final figure. Before the exam, go through your notes and practice questions and label each one with its command word, then check whether your answer actually matches the instruction. When you practise with the free mock exam generator on this site, read the command word twice before you write anything. It is the cheapest habit in exam technique, and cheap habits are the ones worth building first because they pay out in every single paper you sit.
English: where the marks actually sit in each section
English Language has three papers: an objective paper (Paper 1), a written paper (Paper 2) made up of essay writing, a comprehension passage and a summary, and a short Test of Orals (Paper 3). Treat each part as a different game. For the objective paper, do a short set of practice questions every day instead of leaving it to the last week. WAEC's chief examiners list poor grammar, spelling errors and the inability to construct simple, correct sentences among candidates' weaknesses, so a clean letter or article with few slips beats an ambitious essay full of errors. WAEC's chief examiners described the essay tasks in the 2023 private-candidate paper as an informal letter, an official letter, an article for publication, a speech and a story; practise each of these formats rather than betting on one or two. Comprehension is about answering from the passage, in your own words, at the length the question asks for. In the summary, examiners want the main points only, in the number of sentences the question sets, each a complete sentence in your own words, with no examples, no illustrations and no lifting of whole phrases from the passage. Write at least two practice essays and two summaries every week and run them through the AI marking tool on this site so you get feedback the same day instead of guessing whether your expression is costing you marks.
Maths: cover the syllabus, then drill your weak areas
WAEC's chief examiner's report on General Mathematics Paper 2 (WASSCE for school candidates, 2023) encouraged teachers and candidates to cover the teaching curriculum while preparing, so do not skip whole topics. Within that, give extra time to the areas the same report named as weak: bearing, angles of elevation and depression, plane and circle geometry, drawing and reading graphs, distance, speed and time, and financial mathematics. Work topic by topic: study one worked example, then do five questions of the same type without looking, showing full working every time, because WAEC's chief examiners have criticised candidates for leaving out essential working. When you get stuck, put the question into the math solver on this site and study the steps rather than copying the answer; the point is to see where your method diverged. Keep a single sheet of formulas you personally keep forgetting, such as the cosine rule or the volume of a cone, and rewrite it from memory every few days.
Practise under timed conditions
Reading, deciding and answering against the clock is a skill in itself, and it improves with practice. The mock exam generator on this site is free, runs in the browser and has a countdown clock, so you can rehearse timed objective questions, including skipping hard questions and returning to them; the quiz tool, which has no clock, suits short daily drills. For English, practise reading a full-length comprehension passage under time while making point notes on paper. Timed practice sessions on this site cost you nothing, so build them into every week.
A week-by-week shape for your next sitting
Here is a shape to fit into whatever time you have left. Week one, whenever you start: diagnose both subjects, register for your next sitting once WAEC opens registration, and download that series' official timetable so you know your exact paper dates. Weeks two and three: alternate days between English and Maths, with each day split into one hour learning a weak topic and one hour of timed questions on it, while your daily English objective practice keeps running in the background. Weeks four and five: shift toward full sections, a complete summary plus essay one day, a full Maths theory section the next, marked honestly against the AI marking tool or your own checklist. From week six, move to full timed mocks, one per subject per week, and spend the day after each mock re-doing every question you missed, which is where the real learning happens. Protect sleep in the final week; a tired candidate misreads command words.
Worked questions, step by step
Maths practice (sets and Venn diagrams). In a class of 50 students, 30 offer Economics, 25 offer Government, and 7 offer neither subject. (a) How many students offer both subjects? (b) How many offer Economics only?
- Find how many students offer at least one subject: 50 - 7 = 43.
- Let n be the number offering both. Use the rule n(at least one) = n(Economics) + n(Government) - n(both), so 43 = 30 + 25 - n.
- Solve: n = 55 - 43 = 12, so 12 students offer both subjects.
- Economics only = all Economics students minus those doing both: 30 - 12 = 18.
- Check the totals: Economics only 18 + Government only 13 + both 12 + neither 7 = 50, which matches the class size, so the answer is consistent.
Answer: (a) 12 students offer both subjects. (b) 18 students offer Economics only.
Where marks slip: Draw the Venn diagram even when the question does not demand one, and write the set-up 30 + 25 - n = 43 in full; WAEC's chief examiners criticise answers that leave out essential working.
Try one yourself: In a market survey of 60 traders, 35 sell yams, 40 sell beans, and 5 sell neither. Find how many sell both, and how many sell beans only. (Answers: 20 sell both; 20 sell beans only.)
English practice (summary writing). Read this passage, then answer in your own words. Passage: Many students treat sleep as wasted time, but the hours you spend asleep are when your brain does its filing. During deep sleep, the day's lessons are moved from short-term storage into long-term memory, which is why a topic revised before a good night's rest is remembered better than one crammed at dawn. Sleep also restores concentration, so a rested candidate reads questions more carefully and makes fewer careless slips. Finally, regular sleep steadies mood: anxious, exhausted students panic in exam halls, while rested ones stay calm enough to think. Task: In three sentences, one for each, state three benefits of adequate sleep that the writer mentions.
- Read the task before the passage so you know you are hunting for exactly three benefits and nothing else.
- Read the passage once straight through, then again slowly, ticking each sentence that states a benefit rather than an example or an explanation of one.
- Identify the three ideas: memory, concentration, and steadier mood. The lines about filing, careless slips and panicking are illustrations, so leave them out.
- Write one complete sentence per benefit in your own words, for example: Adequate sleep helps students store what they have learned in lasting memory.
- Check each sentence for lifting: if four or more consecutive words match the passage, rephrase before you move on.
Answer: A strong response: (1) Adequate sleep helps students store what they have learned in long-lasting memory. (2) Adequate sleep improves a student's ability to concentrate. (3) Adequate sleep keeps a student's mood steady.
Where marks slip: WAEC's chief examiners criticise summaries that copy from the passage or mix examples in with the main points, so write each point as a complete sentence in your own words and leave the examples out.
Try one yourself: Do the same drill with any newspaper editorial: in one sentence each, state three problems the writer identifies and three solutions the writer proposes, without copying more than three consecutive words from the text. [Answer: open task, because the editorial is your own choice. Check yourself against the model above: each sentence names exactly one point, uses your own words, and could stand alone without the passage]
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Solve my question →Quiz me on this topicQuestions students ask
How long do I need to prepare for WAEC GCE English and Maths?
No one can promise a number of weeks, so use whatever time you have in the same order: a diagnosis week, then topic work on your weakest areas, then full timed mocks. With less time, compress the plan and start with the weakest topic. WAEC's chief examiners' reports name weak spots such as copying in summaries and leaving out working in Maths, so fix those first.
What mark do I need for a credit in English or Maths?
Nobody can honestly promise that a particular percentage guarantees a credit. The practical approach is to attempt every question, show full working in Maths, and hit the required number of points in the English summary. Chasing every available mark beats guessing at a target.
When were the English and Maths papers in the 2026 second series?
General Mathematics was on Saturday 3 October 2026: Paper 2 (essay) from 9:30am to 12:00pm and Paper 1 (objective) from 2:00pm to 3:30pm. English Language was on Saturday 17 October 2026: Paper 2 (essay) from 9:30am to 11:30am, Paper 1 (objective) from 11:30am to 12:30pm, and Paper 3 (Test of Orals) from 2:00pm to 2:45pm. For your next sitting, take the dates from WAEC's own timetable for that series.
Can I still register for the 2026 second series?
In practice, no: General Mathematics and English Language, which every candidate had to take, were on 3 and 17 October, and WAEC's final timetable has no papers after Wednesday 28 October 2026. WAEC's results website, waecdirect.org, stated that normal registration ended on Friday 18 September 2026 and that registration PINs could be bought at WAEC offices up till the end of the examination. For your next sitting, register once WAEC opens registration for that series.
When will the results come out?
WAEC had not published a results date for the 2026 second series on waecdirect.org or waecnigeria.org when this page was checked on 28 October 2026. When results are released, check them on waecdirect.org: enter your 10-digit examination number and the exam year, choose Private Candidate Results, and enter the e-PIN voucher number and its PIN.