The 2025 Chief Examiner’s Report has outlined the causes that led to the poor performance of candidates in three of the four core subjects taken in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates (SC).
This was contained in a summary of the weaknesses of candidates in the 2025 WASSCE-SC (Ghana Only Version).
Mathematics
Seven reasons were listed by the Chief Examiner as the cause for the failures, including candidates showing weaknesses in representing mathematical information in diagrams, solving global maths-related problems, constructing cumulative frequency tables and making deductions from real-life problems.
Also, the Report disclosed that candidates exhibited weaknesses in solving simple interest applications, translating word problems into mathematical expressions and interpreting results from cumulative frequency data.
“The Chief Examiner for Mathematics (Core) reported that there was a decline in performance compared to that of the previous year,” the Report said.
Regarding candidates’ strengths, the report said they were evident in the application of the midpoint concept to solve problems, solving problems on mensuration, solving simple problems on average speed and finding the distance of a line when given two points.
Social Studies
Regarding Social Studies, which centres on the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence, the Chief Examiner said that candidates could not point out how expensive funerals adversely affected the development of the Ghanaian society.
Furthermore, candidates found difficulty in answering questions on government policies meant to better the lives of the citizenry, adding that they could not properly discuss the cooperation between Ghana and United Nation’s organisations.
Highlighting on the strengths, the Report says the candidates demonstrated an excellent understanding of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory and how it could be applied to the lives of students.
Again, they were to point out the influence of Western formal education on the social outlook of the Ghanaian and were able to explain how rapid population growth adversely affects the physical environment.
Also, the Chief Examiner said most of the candidates were able to discuss measures an individual could adopt to better his or her socio-economic life in Ghana.
Integrated Science
On Integrated Science, the Chief Examiner noted that the candidates’ performance was poor in some areas.
The areas were definitions of relative atomic mass, graph work and calculation of slope, wrong spelling of key scientific terminologies, drawing of bar magnet and lines of force, description of post-harvest practices such as winnowing, dehusking and shelling, reagents for testing foods in the laboratory and drawing of genetic diagrams.
However, the candidates were able to show strength in energy transformation, the mole concept or definition of standard solution, advantages of parallel wiring in homes, challenges of pig production in Ghana and significance of the stages of water treatment for public consumption.
WASSCE performance
In the Mathematics paper for this year’s WASSCE-SC, 209,068 (48.73 per cent) had A1-C6; 52,991 (11.62 per cent) had D7; 52,145 (12.15 per cent) obtained E8, while 114,872 (26.77 per cent) had F9.
For Integrated Science, 220,806 (57.74 per cent) candidates scored A1-C6; 54,580 (11.85 per cent) had D7; 45,783 (11.79 per cent) recorded E8, while 61,243 (16.05 per cent) obtained F9.
Another core subject, Social Studies, had 248,538 (55.82 per cent) candidates scoring A1-C6, with 33,670 (7.38 per cent) candidates recording D7, while 40,608 (9.12 per cent) had E8, and 122,449 (27.50 per cent) settled for F9.
In English Language, 289,673 (60 per cent) of the candidates scored between A1-C6; 37,712 (8.18 per cent) others had D7; 39,091 (9.23 per cent) had E8, and 54,294 (12.86 per cent) had F9.
A detailed Chief Examiner’s Report on the performance of candidates in the WASSCE is expected to be issued by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) later.
Akufo-Addo gov’t enabled cheating in WASSCE to boost Free SHS – Pru East MP alleges
