- The West African Senior School Certificate Examination will start this month, May, and candidates have been worrying about what else remains for them to note in the dying minutes
- Regardless of department, all students will take English Language as it is the country's official language
- One of the most easily flunk-able parts of the examination is the theory section, where students will be required to choose either an essay or a letter to write
After the nation was shocked by the mass failure recorded in the recently released results of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, with less than 500,000 candidates scoring above the average mark of 200, the attention has now been shifted to the impending West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which also bears a lot on how better students are placed in getting admission into Nigerian universities.
English language is a very crucial and important subject. It is mandatory for all students to register and sit for its examination, regardless of department - be it science, commerce or art - ambition in the future as even students aiming to study Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa language in the University are required to take English test.
The English Language needs extra attention because it dictates the fate of other subjects. One may ace all others, but if English is deficient, the result will be inadmissible anywhere.
Hence, the rationale for the spotlighting. In this piece, tips on how to ace the essay part of the examination will be discussed.
WASSCE's English Language Theory section always has five questions containing essay and letter writing topics, with the students free to choose one of the topics they feel they are most proficient in.
Below are tips to note to ace essay topics if you are choosing the essay question:
What type of essay
It might be impossible to guess what type of essay will be written for the examination as there are different types. There is a narrative essay, which is always reported in the past, except for where someone is being quoted or special grammatical exceptions like when a verb follows 'to' or the modal verbs.
Argumentative essays or debate questions might require a student to take a stance either for or against a given topic. While partly the same, the latter requires greeting and acknowledgement of the participant.
Heading
Barring informal letters, all other forms of essay questions require a heading. Whether it is an expository, argumentative, narrative, or formal essay, the heading is compulsory.
In letters, the heading always comes after the salutation - not before it.
It is important to note that the question can never be the heading. It is wrong to rewrite the question verbatim as the subject of the letter or essay.
Read the question well
Don't just jump into writing. Read and understand the question thoroughly. Ensure you have gotten all that the examiner is seeking. For the part where you are required to write about causes and effects, don't be too carried away in the causes that you forget the effect part.
Make an Outline
It is very advisable that you jot down points somewhere at the back of your booklets—points that you will later develop when you start writing. Jot the points down in the order you want them in paragraphs, and let them be your guiding light.
Brief Introduction
At most, three paragraphs. The introduction should not be too long. And remember to declare your intention or goal in the introduction.
Body of the paragraph
This is where you start to develop the points you have noted down before you begin the writing. You make it a point per paragraph. All are linked together by conjunctions like firstly, secondly, however, moreover, in conclusion, etc. Also, remember to input the topic sentence in each paragraph. The topic sentence states the key point of the whole paragraph.
Conclusion
This, like the introduction, should be brief and straightforward. Summarise all that you have written in the body of the piece.
.. Source: Legit.ng
