Inability to spell technical terms correctly. e.g. ‘Malphighian’ ‘Anenometer’ ‘hydrometer’ for ‘malpighian’, ‘Anemometer’ and ‘hygrometer’;
poor presentation and arrangement of points to score;
poor use of English and illegible handwriting;
lengthy explanations without relevant points to the question asked;
inability to write a balanced equation representing photosynthesis;
inadherence to instructions. Some candidates answered more than two questions from part I, and some answered questions from the part peculiar to other countries;
giving the general function of kidney instead of how the nephron carries out excretion.
The following remedies were proffered to overcome these weaknesses:
School Subject Teachers should pay more attention to conservation and the description of cycles alongside their diagrams;
the major products of light-dependent stage of photosynthesis should be emphasized by the teachers in the classroom;
teachers should inculcate the culture of independent work on students;
teachers should endeavour to cover the syllabus before students take the examination;
students should improve on their written English so as to help them in answering questions;
candidates should read and understand a question before attempting it.
