Yomi BlackPhysics is examined at senior secondary depth, three years of teaching examined in one diet. That is the sentence to hold onto, because the same subject examined by a different body at a different depth needs a different plan, and candidates who carry preparation across from one to the other lose marks they did not need to lose.
- Subject
- Physics
- Examined by
- WAEC
- Format here
- A written examination with an objective paper, an essay paper, and a practical or alternative to practical where the subject has one
- Depth
- Senior secondary depth, three years of teaching examined in one diet
- What the grade does
- A credit, and credits are the unit almost every admission requirement is written in
- Papers
- Objective, essay, and a practical or alternative to practical.
- Required for
- Engineering of every kind, medicine at some institutions, physics, architecture and computer science
How WAEC examines this subject
The format is a written examination with an objective paper, an essay paper, and a practical or alternative to practical where the subject has one, and it is marked by examiners against a published mark scheme, with method marks awarded for working and presentation marks for layout.
The grade sits on a certificate that does not expire and that you will show for the rest of your working life.
The paper structure, and how to weight your time
Objective, essay, and a practical or alternative to practical.
Split your preparation roughly in the proportion the components are weighted. Candidates habitually over-prepare the part they enjoy and meet the other part for the first time in the hall.
What makes it hard
The practical is graph-heavy, and graph marks are awarded mechanically for axes, scale, plotting, line of best fit and gradient. Candidates lose them on presentation rather than physics.
Set that against how this examination works. Three years of school teaching, which means your gaps are your school’s gaps, and finding them is the first job.
Where marks are lost in this subject
- Dropping units, which costs marks even when the number is right.
- Plotting graphs without a sensible scale, which loses scale and plotting marks before any physics is assessed.
- Quoting formulae without defining the symbols the question asks you to define.
Practise drawing graphs to the mark scheme, not to look neat. Axes labelled with quantity and unit, scale filling the grid, points as crosses.
Turning it into a plan
- Get the current syllabus from WAEC and check the year range on the cover.
- Write one line per topic area, with a box beside it.
- Work a past paper in this examination’s format, a written examination with an objective paper, and tag every question back to a line.
- Mark the lines your teaching has never covered. Those are the priority.
- Re-weight towards the component carrying the most marks. One diet a year for school candidates, so there is no second attempt inside the same admission cycle.
What a good grade here is worth
In this examination the grade is a credit, and credits are the unit almost every admission requirement is written in. Physics is required for engineering of every kind, medicine at some institutions, physics, architecture and computer science, and course requirements are checked subject by subject, so a strong overall result with a weak grade here is a disqualification for the course that names it rather than a near miss.
Questions candidates ask about Physics
Has the syllabus changed?
Syllabuses are revised on published cycles and old ones stay online after they expire. If the copy you are holding has no year range, you do not know what you are holding.
How do I turn it into revision?
One line per topic area with a box beside it, then tick the lines off against past papers rather than against your notes. The lines that stay blank are the finding.
Is Physics compulsory?
No. It is a science subject, chosen as one of your electives, and you should choose it because a course you want names it.
What is it required for?
Engineering of every kind, medicine at some institutions, physics, architecture and computer science.
How many papers are there?
Objective, essay, and a practical or alternative to practical.
What makes it hard?
The practical is graph-heavy, and graph marks are awarded mechanically for axes, scale, plotting, line of best fit and gradient. Candidates lose them on presentation rather than physics.
What is the most common way candidates lose marks?
Dropping units, which costs marks even when the number is right.
Where do I get the official syllabus?
From WAEC, on its own site, free. Check the year range on the cover before you use it.
What the subject covers
Use these topic areas as the frame for your own checklist, then verify the detail against the syllabus WAEC publishes itself, because depth and emphasis shift between curriculum cycles even when the headings do not.
- Measurement and units.
- Mechanics, motion, forces and energy.
- Heat and thermal physics.
- Waves, sound and light.
- Electricity and magnetism.
- Modern physics, atomic and nuclear.
- WAEC Physics: past questions
- WAEC Physics: how to pass
- All WAEC subjects
- WAEC syllabus, all subjects
- WAEC grading and what counts as a credit
Sources
- The West African Examinations Council, Nigeria. Entry regulations for WASSCE. waecnigeria.org
- The West African Examinations Council, Nigeria. Registration and entry. waecnigeria.org
- The West African Examinations Council, Nigeria. Frequently Asked Questions. www.waecnigeria.org