It is no longer news that Waec 2018/2019 registration and examination is around May/June examination is very close. So many waec candidates have been asking questions about 2018 waec syllabus and topics to read so as to pass waec 2018 without much stress.

The truth of the matter is that, the relevance of Jamb syllabus and expo on the topics to focus on cannot be overemphasised. There are four weapons you need you need to pass the WAEC 2018/2019 examination. They are:

WAEC Syllabus

WAEC past questions and answers

Hot topics to read to pass waec 2018/2019

The recommended waec textbooks and

Your complete preparation.

In this article, I will bread down the waec English syllabus for you.

PAPER 1: This paper will be divided into three sections (A, B and C).

SECTION A: ESSAY WRITING (50 marks)

Candidates will be required to spend 50 minutes on this section. There will be five

questions in all and candidates will be required to answer only one question.

The questions will test candidates‟ ability to communicate in writing. The topics will

demand the following kinds of writing:

(i) letter;

(ii) speech;

(iii) narrative;

(iv) description;

(v) debate/argumentative;

(vi) report;

(vii) article;

(viii) exposition;

(ix) creative writing.

Credit will be given for

(i) Content: relevance of ideas to the topic and its specified audience and

purpose;

(ii) Organization: formal features (where applicable), good paragraphing,

appropriate emphasis and arrangement of ideas;

(iii) Expression: control of vocabulary and sentence structure;

(iv) Mechanical Accuracy: grammar, punctuation and spelling.

The minimum length expected will be 450 words.

SECTION B: COMPREHENSION (40 marks)

Candidates will be required to spend 50 minutes on this section. The section will consist

of two passages each of about three hundred (300) words. Candidates will be required to

answer questions on the two passages.

The questions will test the candidate‟s ability to

(i) find appropriate equivalents for selected words and phrases;

(ii) understand the factual content;

(iii) make inferences from the content of the passages;

(iv) respond to uses of English expressions to reveal/reflect

sentiments/emotions/attitudes;

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(v) identify and label basic grammatical structures, words, phrases or clauses

and explain their functions as they appear in the context;

(vi) identify and explain basic literary terms and expressions;

(vii) recast phrases or sentences into grammatical alternatives.

The passages will be chosen from a wide variety of sources all of which will be suitable for

this level of examination in terms of theme and interest. The passages will be written in

modern English that will be within the experience of candidates. The comprehension test

will include a total of three questions based on (vi) above in any one paper.

SECTION C: SUMMARY (30 marks)

Candidates will be required to spend 50 minutes on this section. The section will consist

of one prose passage of about five hundred (500) words and will test the candidate‟s ability

to

(i) extract relevant information;

(ii) summarize the points demanded in clear, concise English;

(iii) present a summary of specific aspects or portions of the passage;

(iv) avoid repetition, redundancy and extraneous material.

The passage will be selected from a wide variety of suitable sources, including excerpts

from narratives, dialogues and expositions of social, cultural, economic and political issues

in any part of the world.

PAPER 2: This is an objective/multiple choice paper comprising 100 questions: 40

lexical and 60 structural items. Each question/item will have four options

lettered A to D.

A. LEXIS

In addition to items testing knowledge of the vocabulary of everyday usage (i.e.

home, social relationships, common core school subjects) questions will be set to

test the candidate‟s ability in the use of the more general vocabulary associated

with the following fields of human activity:

I. (a) Building;

(b) Plumbing;

(c) Fishing;

(d) Finance – commerce, banking, stock exchange, insurance;

(e) Photography;

(f) Mineral exploitation;

(g) Common manufacturing industries;

(h) Printing, publishing, the press and libraries;

(i) Sea, road, rail and air transport;

(j) Government and politics;

(k) Sports and entertainment;

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(l) Religion;

(m) Science and Technology;

(n) Power production – hydro, thermal, solar;

(o) Education;

(p) Transport and Communication;

(q) Military;

(r) Journalism and Advertising.

II. Idioms, i.e. idiomatic expressions and collocations (e.g. “hook, line and sinker”,

“every Tom, Dick and Harry” etc.) the total meaning of which cannot be arrived at

simply by consideration of the dictionary meanings of the words in the structures in

which they appear.

III. Structural elements of English e.g. sequence of tenses, matching of pronouns with

noun referents, use of correct prepositions.

IV. Figurative usage

By “more general” vocabulary is meant those words and usages of words normally

associated with the field of human activity in question which are generally known,

used and understood by most educated people who while not engaged in that field

of activity may have occasion to read, speak or write about it. Thus, for example,

in the vocabulary of transportation by sea, one would expect knowledge of terms

such as “bridge” and “deck”, which most educated people understand, but not

“halyard”, “dodge”, “davit” or “thrust block”, which are specialized.

All items will be phrased in such a way as to test the use and understanding of the

required lexis, rather than dictionary definitions and explanations. In practice, the

test of lexis will be so designed as to explore, not merely the extent of the

candidates‟ vocabulary but more importantly their ability to respond to sense

relations in the use of lexical items e.g. synonyms, antonyms and homonyms.

In the testing of figurative language, candidates will be expected to recognize when

an expression is used figuratively rather than literally.

B. STRUCTURE

Structure here is used to include:

(i) The patterns of changes in word-forms which indicate number, tense,

degree, etc.;

(ii) The patterns in which different categories of words regularly combine to

form groups and these groups in turn combine to form sentences;

(iii) The use of structural words e.g. conjunctions, articles, determiners,

prepositions, etc.

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PAPER 3 ORAL ENGLISH (50 marks)

This paper will test candidates‟ knowledge of Oral English. There will be three

alternatives for this paper: Alternative A for School Candidates in The Gambia and Sierra

Leone, Alternative B for Private Candidates in The Gambia and Sierra Leone and

Alternative C for Nigeria Candidates only.

ALTERNATIVE A: LISTENING COMPREHENSION

This paper will be a Listening Comprehension Test.

This will be made up of 100 multiple choice objective items:

Recognition of consonants, consonant clusters, vowels, diphthongs, stress and

intonation;

Understanding of dialogues and narratives.

Section 1: Test of word final voiced-voiceless consonants in isolated words mainly,

but other features such as consonant clusters may also be tested.

Section 2: Test of vowel quality in isolated words.

Section 3: Test of vowel quality and consonant contrasts in isolated words.

Section 4: One of three alternatives below will be used in different years:

(i) test of vowel and/or consonant contrasts in sentence contexts;

(ii) test of vowel and consonant contrasts in isolated words – to be

selected from a list of at least four-word contrasts;

(iii) test of vowel and consonant contrasts through rhymes.

Section 5: Test of rhyming.

Section 6: Test of comprehension of emphatic stress.

Section 7: Test of understanding of intonation through short dialogues.

Section 8: Test of understanding of the content of longer dialogues and narratives.

NOTE: 1. Tape recorders will be used for the administration of this Listening

Comprehension Test.

1. Features to be tested:

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I. CONSONANTS

(a) Single Consonants – Candidates should be able to recognize and

produce all the significant sound contrasts in the consonantal system

of English. For the guidance of candidates, a few examples of such

contrasts are given below.

Initial Medial Final

they – day buzzes – buses boat – both

ship – chip parcel – partial breathe – breed

fan – van sopping – sobbing wash – watch

pit – fit written – ridden leaf – leave

pit – bit anger – anchor cup – cub

tuck – duck faces – phases cart – card

card – guard prices – prizes –

gear – jeer – –

(b) Consonant Clusters – Candidates should be able to produce and

recognize consonant clusters which may occur both initially and

finally in a syllable. They should also be able to recognize and

produce the consonant sounds in a consonant cluster in the right

order. For the guidance of candidates, a few examples are given

below.

Initial Final

play – pray rains – range

sting – string felt – felled

scheme – scream sent – send

crime – climb nest – next

flee – free ask – axe

three – tree lift – lived

true – drew missed – mixed

blight – bright seats – seeds

tread – thread hens – hence

drift – thrift lisp – lips

glade – grade coast – coats

marks – masks

II. VOWELS

(a) Pure Vowels

(b) Diphthongs

(c) Triphthongs

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Candidates should be able to recognize and produce all the significant sound

contrasts in the vowel system of English. For the guidance of candidates, a few

examples of such contrasts are given below.

seat – sit

sit – set

peck – pack

pack – park

cart – cat

load – lord

pair – purr

park – pork

hard – heard

word – ward

let – late

cheer – chair

pet – pat – part – pate

hat – heart – height – hate – hut

part – port – pot – pat

caught – cot – cut – curt

pool – pull – pole –

bird – bed – bared

but – bat

III STRESS

(a) Word Stress – Candidates should be able to contrast stressed and

unstressed syllables in words which are not otherwise distinguished. In

addition, they should be aware of the possibility of shifting stress from one

syllable to another in different derivations of the same word with

consequent change in vowel quality. For the guidance of candidates, a few

examples of changing word stress are given below.

„increase (noun) in‟crease (verb)

„import “ im‟port “

„rebel “ re‟bel “

„convict “ con‟vict “

„extract “ ex‟tract “

„record “ re‟cord “

„subject “ sub‟ject “

(b) Sentence Stress – Candidates should be aware that stress in sentences in

English tends to occur at regular intervals in time. English is therefore

called a stress-timed language. They should also be aware that in most

sentences, unless some sort of emphasis is introduced, only nouns, main

verbs (not auxiliaries), adjectives and adverbs are stressed. Final pronouns

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should not be stressed, unless some kind of contrast is intended; relative

pronouns should not be stressed, nor should possessive pronouns. Thus, for

example, the following sentences should be stressed as indicated:

He „went to the „town and „bought some „oranges.

I „told him to „go to the „station to „ask when the „train would „leave.

Did you „ask him?

I „read it but I „didn‟t understand it.

They ar‟rived „yesterday.

The „man who „came.

I „fetched his „book.

NOTE: There are a few words in English that are pronounced differently depending

on whether or not they are stressed in the sentence. These are usually called

strong and weak forms.

(c) Emphatic Stress – Candidates should be aware of the use of emphatic

stress, most commonly to indicate a contrast, which is realized partly as a

change in pitch within the intonation pattern. The falling pitch illustrated

below is one of the common ways of indicating this:

IV INTONATION

Candidates should be made aware of the different forms English intonation takes in

relation to the grammar of the language and the attitudes conveyed by the speaker.

There are two basic intonation patterns or tunes: the falling and rising patterns.

They should also realize that whereas the normal place for the changing pitch in an

intonation pattern is on the last stressed syllable of the utterance (as indicated

below), placing the changing pitch elsewhere implies a contrast to the item on

which this changing pitch falls. For example:

He borrowed “my newspaper

He “borrowed „my newspaper

He borrowed my “newspaper

“He borrowed my „newspaper

(i.e, not hers)

(i.e, he did not steal it).

(i.e, not my book).

(i.e, not someone else).

( )

( )

( )

( )

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(a) Falling Pattern

(b) Rising Pattern

Note that (i) the two patterns indicated above may be combined in longer sentences,

(ii) candidates should note, in addition, that any unstressed syllable

following the last stressed syllable of the sentence is said on a low level

pitch when the pattern is falling, but continues the rise if the pattern is

rising. The same rule applies to tags following quoted speech.

They ar‟rived to‟day

„Where did he „go?

„Come „here!

Statement

WH — question

Command

( )

( )

( )

Did he „see the „principal?

When the „train arrived

They arrived to‟day?

Yes/No question

Incomplete

Question

( )

( )

( )

e.g: When the „train ar‟rived, the passengers were on the platform.

( )

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ALTERNATIVE B

Alternative B is a multiple-choice paper of 50 items testing the content of the syllabus as

outlined for Alternative A.

The 50 items will cover the recognition of the following:

(1) pure vowels (5) word stress

(2) diphthongs (6) sentence stress

(3) consonants (7) emphatic/contrastive stress

(4) consonant clusters (8) vowel and consonant contrasts through rhymes.

ALTERNATIVE C: TEST OF ORALS (For School and Private Candidates in

Nigeria)

A Test of Orals format is a multiple-choice paper of 60 items testing a wide range of areas

or aspects of Orals as contained in the syllabus.

The Test of Orals will cover the following areas:

(1) Vowels – pure vowels and diphthongs;

(2) Consonants (including clusters);

(3) Rhymes;

(4) Word Stress/Syllable Structure;

(5) Emphatic Stress/Intonation Patterns;

(6) Phonetic Symbols.

The items to be tested in the specified areas are in accordance with the following blueprint:

SECTION AREA/FEATURE NO. OF ITEMS

1.

2.

3.

4

5.

6.

7.

Test of Vowels

Test of Consonants

Test of Rhymes

Test of Stress (4 – Syllable word)

Test of Stress (2/3 – Syllable word)

Test of Emphatic Stress/Intonation

Patterns in Sentences

Test of Phonetic Symbols

15 (10 pure vowels, 5 diphthongs)

15

5

5

5

5

10 (5 vocalic and 5 consonantal)

60

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