THE WEST AFRICA SENIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION
ELIGIBILITY

The West African Senior School Certificate Examination is held each year in May/June for School candidates and November/December for Private Candidates.

The May/June Examination is administered to all candidates in the third (final) year of the Senior Secondary School course and is open to all schools, which are duly recognized by the Department of State For Education.

The November/December (Private) examination is administered to candidates who have completed either the Basic or Senior Secondary School .

(2) ENTRY PERIOD

The entry period for the May/June (School Candidate) is from October to December. For the November/December (Private Candidates) is from February to May.

(3) SUBJECTS FOR THE EXAMINATION

The following subjects are offered for the WASSCE

1. Agricultural Science	17. Geography
2. Arabic	18. Government
3. Auto Mechanics	19. Health Science
4. Biology	20. History
5. Business Management	21. Home Management
6. Chemistry	22. Islamic Studies
7. Christian Religious Knowl.	23. Literature-In-English
8. Clothing and Textiles	24. Mathematics
9. Commerce	25. Metalwork
10. Economics	26. Physical Education
11. English Language	27. Physics
12. Financial Accounting	28. Principles of Cost Acct.
13. Foods and Nutrition	29. Technical Drawing
14. Further Mathematics (Elective)	30. Typewriting
15. Geography	31. Visual Art
	32. Woodwork

(4) REVIEW OF SCRIPTS

Scripts are kept for three months after the release of results before they are finally destroyed. During this time, review of scripts for a fee is allowed and this is done at the instance of the Head of School or an accredited representative of the school since the Basic Education Certificate Examinations is a school-based examination. The Council by policy does not undertake review of scripts at the instance of candidates, parents, guardians or persons claiming to act “in loco parents”.

(5) CONDITIONS FOR THE AWARD OF A CERTIFICATE

The certificate for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination will be warded to a candidate who enters and sits for any of the core or elective subjects. Certificates will be awarded on the basis of subjects offered. The core subjects are as follows:-

The Gambia Core (Compulsory)

(a) English Language

(b) Mathematics

(c) One Science Subject (Science, Chemistry, Physics, Biology)

(d) One of either Literature in English, Geography or History

(e) Agricultural Science or Vocational or Technical Subjects

School candidates in The Gambia must enter and sit for three or four other subjects in addition to the core subject. Private candidates can enter for one or more subjects.

(6) FORMAT FOR REPORTING THE RESULT OF THE WASSCE

There will be six grades in order of merit from A to F. Grade A being the highest and Grade F the lowest. The first five Grades, which will be designated A, B, C, D, E will be grades of pass. The sixth grade will represent a failure.

The interpretation of the various grades is as follows:-

A1 - Excellent

B2 - Very Good

B3 - Good

C4 - Credit

C5 - Credit

C6 - Credit

D7 - Pass

E8 - Pass

F9 - Fail

For school candidates, results sheets/slips will be sent to Heads of Schools without fee or application. For Private candidates results slips will be mailed to them individually. The results sheets will show the results in the form of grades as stated above.

(7) CONDITIONS OF ISSUE

The certificate issued is and remains the property of the West African Examinations Council at all times.

The certificate should be kept in a safe place.

The West African Examinations council will not issue any copies of the original certificate.

Any alteration on the certificate renders it invalid.

The certificate must be surrendered to the West African Examinations Council on request.