The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has opened its registration portals for the 2024 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), West African Senior Schools Certificate Examination (WASSCE), and Genera/Advanced Business Certificate Examination candidates.

The Council said the portals for registering BECE candidates opened on Monday, March 11, 2024, and would close on Friday, April 19, 2024, while BECE would be administered from Monday, July 8 to Friday, July 12, 2024.

WASSCE examinations will begin on Monday, August 5, 2024, and end on September 27, 2024, while the General/Advanced Business Certificate Examination (G/ABCE) is scheduled to take place from Friday, August 2, 2024, to Monday, September 2, 2024.

John Kapi, Head of Public Affairs, National Office, WAEC, disclosed this at a press conference in Accra, stating that the registration site for the G/ABCE opened on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, and would close on Friday, April 19, 2024.

He stated that with the introduction of the common core curriculum, school candidates for BECE would be examined differently from private candidates due to changes in the syllabus.

“While school candidates would be examined based on the common core curriculum, the private candidates would be examined on the old syllabus. All private candidates are therefore to note and be careful when selecting their subjects.”

Mr. Kapi said the BECE registration cost per candidate is GH¢214.01, while the WASSCE registration fee for entry in seven to nine subjects is GH¢ 465.00.

“The figure is exclusive of the fees for practical or oral tests which range between GH¢14.50 and GH¢19.50 per test,” he added.

Mr. Kapi indicated that the WASSCE examination would be “a Ghana-only version,” and that registration for private candidates would take place between Friday, October 25, 2024, and Wednesday, December 18, 2024.

The registration portal will be opened from April 2 to August 30, 2024, and fees to be paid for the examination will depend on the number of subjects a candidate registers.

According to him, despite the difference in the examination period, the exam standard remained unchanged.

“Question papers are compiled by officers across the member countries. At the end of the examination, international preliminary coordination meets are held to finalise draft marking schemes.

“Furthermore, right after the marking scheme, the International Awards Committee meets to determine the grade boundaries for all subjects. These processes ensure that the examination written by Ghana only still maintains its international status,” he said.

Mr. Kapi stated that WASSCE and BECE for school candidates were only available to students in their third or final year of regular Senior and Junior High School.

He said it was against the examination’s rules and regulations for schools to register students who had not been enrolled in Senior/Junior High schools from their first years and had moved to the third year without the required continuous assessment records.

“The grading for the school examination is 70 per cent external examination score and 30 per cent continuous examination score. If for some reason some students were transferred from one school to another, they should have evidence of the necessary continuous assessment / cumulative records.”

Mr. Kapi said the council had received reports indicating that students from some public schools had been enticed by the assurance of obtaining excellent grades and thus moved to some private schools to register for the examination.

He said WASSCE students who wanted to better their grades in one or more subjects were to register as private candidates.

Mr. Kapi said the council had made reasonable adjustments to make its examination accessible to candidates with special educational needs.

Additionally, he said the council as part of measures to ensure “test security,” has carried out inspection of schools that have requested accreditation to enable them to present candidates for examination.