CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES

The observed weaknesses are as follows:

- poor drawings and not drawing to scale;

- not writing titles of the diagrams drawn;

- inability to label diagrams correctly e.g. some candidates could not label the vacuole in the typical plant cell drawn in question 1(b);

- inability to name the organs that constitute the alimentary canal in sequence in question

 

2(a);

- inability to correspond the answers to questions on comparison;

- mistaking the roles of pancreas in digestion for the roles of pancreas in the regulation of blood sugar in question

 

2(d);

 

- inability to state the source of energy when describing the energy flow in a fresh water habitat in question 3(b);

 

- inability to state the structural differences and similarities in the alimentary canal of a bird and human in question 2(b);

- inability to apply the knowledge of fingerprinting to crime detection.

 

The following solutions were proffered to overcome these weaknesses;

 

- teachers should teach students the rules guiding drawing of biological diagrams;

- teachers should make students draw from original specimens and according to the specified size;

- students should practice the use of technical terms often so as to know how to spell them correctly;

- teachers should tell students that adaptation questions require stating the structure with its function to score;

- students should endeavour to correspond answers that require comparison;

- the correct definition of biological terms should be encouraged;

- schools should provide teaching aids and models to help students understand biological concepts;

- teachers should ensure they complete the syllabus.