EDUPEDIA’S APPROACH TO PASSING WAEC/NECO ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXAMS

1. Our contributions are more of a practical guide with special reference to the usual arrangement followed by WAEC/NECO and to some extent, JAMB examiners. They do not begin as some texts do “with the word slowly working up to the Essay , Sentence and Paragraphs”. Ours is a remedial approach intended to encourage the student to identify possible errors under Essays, Comprehension, Summary, Lexis &Structure questions. Thereafter he or she is also provided with boosters( as recommended by WAEC!) for producing answers with finesse or panache.
2. By using this approach, we have tried to avoid giving the student the impression that the essay writing is a mystery that he can penetrate only after a long and painful  journey. Moreover, the idea that an essay is built up word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph misleads students and ultimately leads to exam failure. Sorry to say that most English textbooks engage in this laborious “build up”process that has brought English examinations into some disrepute such that it now occupies a back seat in the minds of our students
3. On the other hand we think It is better for a student to study such finer points of writing techniques as paragraphing, effective openings and endings and the distinctive features of narrative essays, descriptive essays, argumentative essays and so on.Thereafter if a student has a something to say he can approach the composition going directly to the point and expressing himself  in an orderly manner.
4. What most students need is advice on errors to avoid and the finer technical points for boosting their performances. This can be done by giving many examples and exercises rather than long discussions.  Edupedia  therefore hopes that it’s write-ups will be used by tutors as basis for discussions and  loosening of students’ mental muscles while preparing for the actual examinations
5.An examiner reading the answer scripts of many Nigerian students these days is wont to say   English as a second language has definitely been transformed into a foreign language! The reasons for this have been listed on another related write-up.Why the situation is more of a comedy is the unrealistic attitude of existing teachers who handle the subject, as if it were still a second language. In reality, English is now a third language in Nigeria  with “Pidgin English” in a commanding second position. Or at the very best, smart teachers  should now regard English as a foreign language.As a foreign language, old teaching calabashes need to be broken and replaced by basic touch button techniques to make English interesting.Of course there are countless books on “Errors in English” or “Mistakes in English”. These books are however only useful as appendices to techniques which release systematically boosters and appropriate errors earlier listed  for exam purposes.
6. So let us release boosters for: Essay Writing/ Composition, Comprehension Passages, and Summary Passages.Thereafter, we shall list out various errors identified from past exams by WAEC and NECO.
7. There are also write-ups on JAMB’s Use of English and English Literature by WAEC/NECO  
Cheers…