WAEC Syllabus for Biology 2024/2025. The WAEC Biology syllabus is the topic you must learn in order to sit for the exam. It includes the Biology exam’s objectives, aims, notes, and format.
For exam preparation, you must study the Biology syllabus. It will act as a guide for you to determine which topics to read. There are also notes on concepts that you should focus on learning.
Exam preparation without the Biology syllabus is akin to going to the farm without your farm tools. You will not be productive as a result. It is nearly impossible to find the actual WAEC Biology syllabus online. As a result, we have chosen to supply you with the appropriate topics and also some recommended textbooks to assist you pass. You can obtain a hard copy from your school or print it from this website. The WAEC syllabus for Biology 2024/2025.
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WAEC Syllabus for Biology 2024/2025.
The WAEC syllabus for Biology 2024/2025 is as follows:
Preamble
This examination syllabus is broken into three sections:
Section A: For all candidates.
Section B: This section is reserved for candidates in Ghana.
Section C: This section is for applicants from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Liberia.
Aims and objectives.
- An appreciation for nature and an understanding of the structure and functions of living beings.
- Acquisition of necessary laboratory and field skills for carrying out and evaluating biological studies and projects.
- Learning necessary scientific abilities, such as observing, classifying, and interpreting biological data.
- Acquisition of fundamental biological information required for further advanced study in biological sciences.
- Developing scientific mindsets for problem-solving.
- Ability to use biological principles in everyday situations involving personal, social, environmental, community health, and economic issues.
- Recognize the presence of interconnections between biology and other scientific fields.
Examination Scheme
Three papers will be presented:
Paper 1
will include fifty multiple-choice objective questions selected from section A of the syllabus (the component of the syllabus shared by all countries). It will be worth 50 points and will last 50 minutes.
Paper 2
will include six essay questions taken from the full curriculum. Sections A, B, and C will be included in the paper.
Section A: It will consist of four questions taken from the syllabus’s Section A.
Section B: It will be limited to applicants from Ghana and will be drawn from Section B of the syllabus (i.e. the Ghana-specific component of the syllabus). It will be made up of short, organized questions.
Section C: Section C will be for candidates from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Liberia. It will be taken from Section C of the syllabus (the section of the syllabus that solely contains material for those nations). It will also include short, organized questions.
Candidates must answer two questions from Section A as well as all of the short-structured questions from either Section B or Section C.
The questions in Section A will be worth 20 points, while the required short-structured questions in Sections B and C will be worth 30 points. The final score will be 70 points. The paper will take 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete.
Paper 3:
There will be a practical test (for school candidates) or a practical job test (for private applicants) lasting 2 hours and consisting of sections A, B, and C.
Section A: This will consist of two required questions from Section A of the syllabus, each worth 25 points.
Section B: This is solely for Ghanaian candidates. It will consist of one question from Section B of the curriculum and will be worth 30 points.
Section C: This is for candidates from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Liberia. It will consist of one question from Section C of the curriculum and will be worth 30 points.
Candidates will be expected to answer all of the questions in Section A and one in either Section B or Section C.
Biology Syllabus Topics ( Area of Concentration).
Concept of Living
- Living and non-living things
- Classification of living things into Kingdoms
- Differences between plants and animals.
Organization of life
- Cell (single-celled organisms): Amoeba, Euglena, Paramecium
- Tissue: Hydra
- Organ (storage organ) bulb, rhizome and heart.
- System/Organ System: In mammals, flowering plants – reproductive, excretory systems, etc.
- The complexity of organization in higher organisms: advantages and disadvantages.
Forms in which living cells exist:
- Single and free-living: Amoeba, Paramecium, Euglena, and Chlamydomonas
- Colony: Volvox
- Filament: Spirogyra
- Part of a living organism: Cheek cells, onion root tip cells, and epidermis of fleshy leaves.
Cell
- Cell structure and functions of cell components
- Similarities and differences between plant and animal cells
- The Cell and its environment: Physical and Biophysical processes; (a) diffusion (b) osmosis (c) active transport
- Properties and functions of the living cell; (a) Nutrition (i) Autotrophic (photosynthesis) (ii) Heterotrophic (holozoic).
Cellular Respiration
Definition and processes of:
- aerobic respiration
- anaerobic respiration
- energy release
Excretion
- Excretion in single-celled aquatic organisms. Diffusion by body surface and by the contractile vacuole.
- Waste products of metabolism.
Growth
- Basis of growth – cell division (mitosis), enlargement and differentiation.
- Aspects of growth: Increase in dry weight, irreversible increase in size and length and increase in the number of cells
- Regions of the fastest growth in plants
- Influence of growth hormones and auxins
- Growth curvatures (Tropisms)
- Development: Enlargement and differentiation
- Movement
(i) Organelles for movement: cilia and flagella
(ii) Cyclosis - Reproduction: Types of reproduction.
(i) Asexual: fission, budding and vegetative propagation. - Sexual: Conjugation, formation of male and female gametes (gametogenesis), a fusion of gametes fertilization).
Tissues and supporting systems: Skeleton and supporting systems in animals:
- Biological significance.
- Skeletal materials, e.g. bone, cartilage and chitin.
- Types of skeleton: exoskeleton, endoskeleton and hydrostatic skeleton.
- Bones of the vertebral column, girdles and long bones of the appendicular skeleton.
- Mechanism of support in animals.
- Functions of skeleton in animals: Protection, support, locomotion and respiratory movement.
Different types of supporting tissues in plants
- Main features of supporting tissues in plants
- Functions of supporting tissues in plants: strength, rigidity (resistance against the forces of the wind and water), flexibility and resilience
Transport System:
1. Need for transport:
(i) Surface area/volume ratio.
(ii) substances have to move greater distances.
2. Transport in animals.
(i) Structure of the heart, arteries, veins and capillaries.
(ii) Composition and function of blood and lymph.
3. Materials for transport:
(i) Excretory products, gases, digested food, and other nutrients.
4. Transport in plants
(i) Uptake and movement of water
and mineral salts in plants.
(ii) Translocation
(iii) Transpiration
(iv) Movement of water to the apex of trees and herbs.
Respiratory System
- Body surface: cutaneous, gills and lungs
- Mechanisms of gaseous exchange in fish, toads, mammals and plants
Excretory Systems
- Excretory Systems and Mechanisms
- Types of excretory systems: Kidney, stomata and lenticels
- Characteristics of excretory organs in these systems should be studied.
- Candidates should observe, draw and label the excretory organs of a small mammal (e.g. rat).
- Explanation of the concept of excretion in plants. Plant excretory products (water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, alkaloids, tannins, gums, resins and acids) should be mentioned.
Regulation of Internal Environment (Homeostasis)
- Kidney: Structure and functions
- Liver
- Functions of the liver
- The skin: Structure and function
Hormonal Coordination
- Animal hormones: Site of secretion, functions and effects of over and under-secretion
- Plant hormones
Nervous Coordination
(a) The central nervous system
- Components of the central nervous system
- Parts of the brain and their functions; cerebrum, cerebellum, medulla oblongata, hypothalamus and their functions
- Structure and function of the Spinal Cord.
(b) Peripheral Nervous System.
- Somatic Nervous System
- Autonomic nervous system.
- Structure and functions of the neurone.
- Classification of neurones.
(c) Types of nervous action.
- The reflex arc
- Reflex and voluntary actions
- Differences between reflex and voluntary actions.
- Conditioned reflex and its role on behavior.
Sense Organs
- Structure and function of the Eye and Ear
The reproductive system of mammals
(a) Kinds of placentation: axile, marginal
and parietal.
- The reproductive system of mammals
- Structure and function of male and female reproductive systems.
- Differences between male and female reproductive organs.
- Structure of the gametes (sperm and ovum)
- Fertilization, development of the embryo and birth.
- Birth control
2. Metamorphosis in insects, life histories of butterfly and cockroach
3. Comparison of reproduction in fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammal
4. Reproduction in flowering plants
- Arrangements of floral parts of a named insect-pollinated flower and a named wind-pollinated flower.
- Structure and function of the male and female parts of a flower
5. Pollination in Plants
- Types of pollination
- Features of cross-pollinated and self-pollinated flowers
- Agents of pollination
6. Process of development of zygote in flowering plants
- Fertilization
- Types of fruits (classification).
- Structure of fruits
7. Dispersal of fruits and seeds: Agents of dispersal
Plant and Animal Nutrition
- Plant Nutrition
(a) Photosynthesis:
(i) Process of photosynthesis and its chemical equation
(ii) Light and dark reactions
(iii) Materials and conditions
necessary for photosynthesis
(iv) Evidence of photosynthesis
(b) Mineral requirement of plants
(i) Mineral nutrition: Macro and micro-nutrients
(ii) Soil and atmosphere as sources of mineral elements.
- Animal Nutrition
Food substances; classes and sources
(b) Balanced diet and its importance
(c ) Food tests
(d) Digestive enzymes: Classes, characteristics and functions
(e) Modes of Nutrition
(i) Autotrophic: Photosynthesis,
(ii) Heterotrophic: holozoic, parasitic, symbiotic and saprophytic.
(f) Alimentary System: Alimentary tract of different animals.
(g) Dental Formula
(h) Feeding in protozoa and mammals
Basic Ecological Concepts
- Ecosystem:
- Components of the ecosystem and sizes
- Ecological components: environment, biosphere, habitat, population, biotic community and ecosystem.
(b) Components of the ecosystem:
Biotic and abiotic
- Ecological factors: Ecological factors in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
- Simple Measurement of Ecological Factors.
Physical factors: Climatic, topographic and gaseous.
Edaphic factors: Chemical and physical composition, moisture content and soil texture. - Food webs and trophic levels
- Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
- Producers: autotrophs
- Consumers: heterotrophs
- Decomposers
- The trophic levels energy relationship
- Food chain
- Food web
5. Energy flow
- Food/Energy relationship in the aquatic and terrestrial environment.
- Pyramid of energy and the Pyramid of numbers.
6. Decomposition in nature
- Decomposers: (micro and macro-decomposers)
- Gaseous products
- Role of decomposers
7. Ecological Management:
- Biological Associations
- Type of associations: Parasitism, symbiosis, commensalism and saprophytism.
- Adaptation of organisms to habitats.
8. Pollution of the atmosphere
- Nature, names, sources and effects of air pollutants
- Effect of noise
9. Water and Soil Pollution
- Type and effects of pollutants
10. Ecology of population
- Ecological succession
- Structural changes in species composition, variety or diversity and increase in numbers.
- General characteristics and outcomes of succession
- Primary succession
- Succession in terrestrial and aquatic habitats.
- Secondary succession, the climax of the succession: characteristic of a stable ecosystem
11. Factors that affect the population size: natality, mortality, emigration, immigration, food shortage, predation, competition and diseases.
12. Preservation and storage of foods
13. The life of selected insects;
- Weevils and cotton strainers
- Control of pests
14. Microorganisms: Man and health
- Carriers of microorganisms
- Microorganisms in action
- Beneficial effects in nature, medicine and industries.
- Harmful effects of micro-organisms, diseases caused by microorganisms: cholera, measles, malaria and ringworm.
- Towards Better Health
- Methods of .controlling harmful microorganisms: high temperature, antibiotics, antiseptics, high salinity and dehydration.
- Ways of controlling the vectors
- Public Health: The importance of the following towards the maintenance of good health practices:
- Refuse and sewage disposal.
- Immunization, vaccination and inoculation (control of diseases)
Variation in Population
- Morphological variations in the physical appearance of individuals
- Size, height and weight
- Colour (skin, eye, hair coat of animals)
- Finger prints
Physiological Variations
- Ability to roll tongue
- Ability to taste
- phenylthiocarbamide (PTC)
- Blood groups (ABO)
classification)
Biology of Heredity (Genetics)
- Genetic terminologies
- Transmission and expression of characteristics in organisms.
- Hereditary variation
- Mendel’s work in genetics
- Mendel’s experiments
- Mendelian traits
- Mendelian laws
- Chromosomes: The basis of heredity
Structure
Process of transmission of hereditary characters from parents to offspring - Probability in genetics (Hybrid formation).
- Linkage, sex determination and sex-linked characters.
- Application of the principles of heredity in:
Agriculture
Medicine
Adaptation for Survival and Evolution
- Behavioural Adaptations in Social Animals.
- Termites
- Bees
2. Evolution
- Evidence of evolution
- Theories of evolution
Best WACE Biology textbooks to Use.
1. Odunfa, S.A. (2001) Essential of Biology, Ibadan: Heinemann.
2. Stan. (2004) Biology for Senior Secondary Schools. Revised Edition, Ibadan: Heinemann
Note: This syllabus covers both WAEC SSCE and GCE exams. As a result, both GCE and secondary school students can benefit from it.
The WAEC syllabus 2024/2025.
