New BECE English Language Paper Structure: See All You Need to Know

It is important that all Basic 8 and 9 students preparing for the BECE know the BECE English Language Paper Structure just as their teachers do. The English language is one of the important core subjects administered at the BECE by the West African Examinations Council. As a core subject, students are expected to pass it to stand a better chance of being placed.

Structure of the BECE English Paper

The BECE English paper is divided into five important parts:

Objective Test Paper: This is made up of 40 objective test questions with answers. The questions asked in this section cover six key areas. Teachers and students who work on the areas outlined here stand the chance of scoring high marks in the Paper 1. The areas to always revise for the BECE are as follows.

1. Subject Verb Agreements (Concord)
2. Clauses (noun clauses, if clauses or conditional sentences) etc.
3. Question tags
4. Nearest in meaning
5. Opposite in meaning
6. Idioms and proverbs
7. And others
8. Lexis and structure – This specifically means mastering the vocabulary in several areas and professions. For instance education vocabularies, air transport vocabularies, the seasons vocabularies, Agriculture vocabularies, and anything thing relevant.
9. Oral English – Consonant sounds, short and long vowel sounds, diphthong, fricatives and others.

Subjective Test Paper: This is divided into four sections:

Essay Section: This contains three questions, and students are expected to choose one and answer it well. The essay section is marked under four subject areas, popularly known as COME:

• COME stands for:
  • Content (10 marks)
  • Organization (5 marks)
  • Mechanical Accuracy (5 Marks)
  • Expression (10 marks)

Whether you answer a narrative essay, descriptive essay, argumentative essay, article for publication, friendly letter, or formal letter question, you will always be marked under the COME criteria. It is important that students master the COME sections for each essay type.

English language teachers must put in a conscious effort to teach their students how to score high marks under these four subsections.

There is no BECE exam without at least one letter related question -Whether formal or informal, candidates will have to master both inside out. Often WAEC prefers official letters compared to friendly letters.

Comprehension Section: This is another critical section. Often, students do not prepare well for this and lose many marks in their attempts to answer questions. Many read the passage given but fail to understand it.

Students also have challenges expressing themselves in written English, hence their inability to answer questions well. The comprehension questions come with a vocabulary section. This is the session where students are to provide a word or phrase that replaces the underlined word or phrase that remains challenging for many students.

The lack of a good and strong vocabulary means that such students are not able to get the right replacement for words or phrases. Some make the mistake of providing more than one answer, which will render the answer wrong, leading to a score of zero if one of the answers provided is incorrect.

Summary Section: Introduced under the 2019 Common Core Curriculum, this section can be linked to the comprehension passage, or students may be provided a separate passage and questions. Most students do not know how to summarize, and teachers are finding it difficult to transfer this knowledge to their learners.

Teachers need to teach their learners the basic rules of summary so that the answers provided by students are not too long. Additionally, answers must not be lifted from the passage, nor should students use the word “and,” etc., since such words only make the summary answer longer and often incorrect.

READ: 2025 BECE English Language Sample Questions: GES & NaCCA

Literature Section: Here, students can easily score 10 out of 10 if they have a strong grip on the subject.

How to Score Grade 1 in the BECE English Language Paper

Students need to put in a high level of preparation and ensure they score the following in each subsection:

• Objective Test: At least 35/40
• Composition: At least 25/30
• Comprehension and Summary: At least 15/20
• Literature: At least 8/10

This will give you a total of 83/100.

READ: BECE 2023 Candidate’s Personal Study Timetable and 10 Pieces Of Advice To Pass The Exam

Now that you know the BECE English Language Paper Structure and the least marks you need to score under eeachof the sections to score grade one, be guided in your study and always target this grade in your mock examinations.