The WASSCE Syllabus: Which Paper to Open First

The WASSCE syllabus is a set of papers, not one book called "SHS". Every candidate meets Core Mathematics, English Language, Integrated Science, and Social Studies. Then come the electives on the programme: science, business, arts, technical, visual arts, home economics, or agriculture. The evening goes better when you open one of those papers.

Two pairs people mix up

Core Mathematics and Elective Mathematics are both mathematics and they are not the same revision. A student can be steady on the core and lost on the elective. Practise the one the last test actually failed.

Integrated Science is the core science paper. Physics, Chemistry, and Biology are electives. A weak mock in Chemistry is a Chemistry problem. Buying another Integrated Science pamphlet does not mark that script.

What to open first

If a core is At Risk, start there. Admissions conversations at home often come back to English and Core Mathematics even when the student loves an elective. If the cores are steady and one elective is falling, that elective is the evening. Take it on the diagnostic before you buy another book.

The subject guides we publish are listed on the syllabus page. Some programme subjects are examined by WAEC and do not have a public guide here yet. Your school list is still the list you register. SHS 1 and SHS 2 should use this to build the subject, not only to panic in SHS 3. Their page is SHS.