WAEC Subjects: The Full List, and How Many You Must Register

You must register a minimum of eight subjects and a maximum of nine. Two of them are compulsory for the 2026 and 2027 diets, and two more become compulsory in 2028. Everything else is yours to choose, from four categories, one of which most candidates never look at.

How many subjects you must register

WAEC’s rule is stated as a range, not a target: candidates are required to enter and sit for a minimum of eight subjects and a maximum of nine. There is no credit for registering more, because you cannot register more. And there is no discretion below eight, because a shortfall is a registration error rather than a choice.

The practical question is whether to sit eight or nine. Nine gives you one extra chance at the five credits including English and Mathematics that almost every admission route asks for. It also gives you one more paper to prepare, one more paper to sit, and on a bad timetable, one more clash to manage. Candidates who are confident in a ninth subject should take it. Candidates adding a ninth subject they have barely studied are buying a failed grade on a certificate they will show for the rest of their lives.

The two compulsory subjects, and the two arriving in 2028

WAEC’s core list now names four subjects: English Language, General Mathematics, Citizenship and Heritage Studies Education, and Digital Technologies. The last two are part of the new curriculum and, on WAEC’s own implementation timeline, will not be examined until 2028.

So for anyone registering for 2026 or 2027, the compulsory list is two subjects: English Language and General Mathematics. You then select six or seven others to reach the minimum of eight or the maximum of nine.

The full subject list, by category

These are the categories WAEC uses, with the subjects it places in each. Read them as WAEC groups them, not as your school groups them, because the two do not always agree and it is WAEC’s grouping that governs your entry.

Science

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Agriculture
• Further Mathematics
• Physical Education
• Health Education
• Foods and Nutrition
• Geography
• Technical Drawing

Humanities

• Nigerian History
• Government
• Christian Religious Studies
• Islamic Studies
• One Nigerian Language: Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba
• French
• Arabic
• Visual Art
• Music
• Literature-in-English
• Home Management
• Catering Craft

Business

• Accounting
• Commerce
• Marketing
• Economics

Trade subjects

• Fashion Design and Garment Making
• Livestock Farming
• Beauty and Cosmetology
• Computer Hardware and GSM Repairs
• Solar Photovoltaic Installation and Maintenance
• Horticulture and Crop Production

Two placements surprise people every year. Geography sits under Science, not Humanities. So do Physical Education, Health Education and Foods and Nutrition. Meanwhile Home Management and Catering Craft sit under Humanities. If you have been told your combination is invalid because a subject is in the wrong stream, check WAEC’s grouping before you accept it, because the stream labels used inside schools are not WAEC’s.

Trade subjects, the part most candidates skip

Six trade subjects are on the list, and they are the least understood entries on it. They are not remedial, and they are not a lower tier of certificate. They are graded on the same scale as Physics, and a credit in one counts as a credit.

The honest caution is the other half of that sentence. Admission requirements are set by universities and by JAMB, not by WAEC, and most degree courses name specific subjects they want to see. A trade subject is unlikely to be one of them. So the sensible use of a trade subject is as your ninth subject, or as a subject you can actually teach yourself to a credit when the alternative is a fourth science you are failing. It is a poor use of a slot that a required subject needs.

One more practical point: a trade subject usually carries a practical component, and it needs a school that can deliver it. Registering for Solar Photovoltaic Installation and Maintenance at a centre with no equipment is a wasted paper.

How to choose your six or seven

Work backwards from the course you want, not forwards from the subjects you like.

1. Find the O’level requirement for your intended course first. The JAMB brochure names the subjects each course requires at O’level and the ones it accepts. That list, not your school’s stream, decides your core electives.
2. Lock those in. Whatever your course names, those subjects are non-negotiable and they are chosen before anything else.
3. Add a second course’s requirements. You will most likely not get your first choice on the first attempt. A combination that qualifies you for two related courses is worth more than one that perfectly fits a single competitive course.
4. Fill the remainder with subjects you can credit. The remaining slots exist to protect your five-credit minimum. Choose for reliability, not for prestige.
5. Decide on the ninth last. Take it if you have a subject you would pass without extra effort. Leave it if you would be starting from nothing in January.

Where subject selection goes wrong

• Registering a subject the school does not teach. You can enter it. Nobody will prepare you for it. This is the single most common cause of a surprise F9.
• Two Nigerian languages, or a language you do not speak. One Nigerian language is on the list. It is examined as a language, not as a formality.
• Ignoring the practical papers. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Agriculture, Visual Art, Music, Foods and Nutrition and the trade subjects all carry practical or alternative-to-practical components. Those are separate papers on the timetable and separate preparation.
• Leaving the combination to whoever is filling the forms. Registration is often done in bulk by a school. Check the printed entry against what you chose before it is submitted, because correcting a wrong entry after submission is slower and sometimes impossible.
• Counting eight and submitting seven. Count the list on the photo card yourself. Eight is the floor.