WAEC explains big improvement in 2026 WASSCE Mathematics results

The Head of Public Affairs at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), John Kapi, has attributed the significant improvement in candidates’ performance in Mathematics in the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination to possible changes in teaching methods and increased exposure to examination questions.

The pass rate for Core Mathematics, based on candidates who obtained grades A1 to C6, increased from 48.73% in 2025 to 60.75% in 2026.

The latest figure represents an improvement of 12.02 percentage points compared with the previous year.

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According to him, the Chief Examiner’s Report showed that candidates performed well in areas including arithmetic progression, coordinates, geometry and the application of business mathematics.

Speaking about the improvement in this year’s results on JoyFM, monitored by GhanaWeb on September 7, 2026, John Kapi said teachers may have studied the previous Chief Examiner’s Report and adjusted their teaching approaches accordingly.

“I would want to say that probably the teachers have studied the chief examiner's report and have made some improvements or some changes in their teaching methodology,” he said.

Kapi noted, however, that candidates continued to struggle with some areas that were also identified as weaknesses in the previous year.

These included representing mathematical information in diagrams, translating word problems, solving problems on global mathematics and applying indices.

Kapi explained that WAEC currently relies on the Chief Examiner’s Report to assess the areas where candidates performed well or poorly.

He further indicated that some improvements may have been made in how the subject was presented to candidates, while students may also have been given more opportunities to practise questions reflecting the new trends in the examination.

“For now, it is only the chief examiner's report that informs us about why candidates performed well, why they did not perform well.

“Looking at what they've indicated this year, I guess that a few, you know, corrections may have been made in terms of presentation, and candidates may also have been taken through a period of trials so that they get used to the new trend of questions that we put out there,” he added.

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