Free WASSCE English Practice Test
270 original questions on WAEC Paper 1 lexis and structure and the Test of Orals, with full timed tests. Tuned for mobile. No account needed.
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The WASSCE English exam at a glance
English Language is a core subject of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), run by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), so every candidate takes it. WAEC's English Language syllabus, as published by syllabus sites, sets three papers. Paper 1 is 80 four-option objective questions in 1 hour for 40 marks; in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia that is forty on lexis (everyday vocabulary and the words of sixteen fields such as building, health, law and sport, synonyms, antonyms, idioms and figurative usage) and forty on structure. Paper 2 is an essay, a comprehension passage and a summary in 2 hours for 100 marks. Paper 3 is 60 multiple-choice items in 45 minutes for 30 marks: the Test of Orals in Nigeria and Liberia, listening comprehension in The Gambia and Sierra Leone (the syllabus's detailed section adds Ghana). Ghana's Paper 1 differs: 30 lexis, 20 structure and 30 literature. Results are graded A1 to F9.
Tigertest has 270 WASSCE English practice questions with explanations, all free with no account required.
- Papers
- Paper 1 objective, Paper 2 essay, comprehension and summary, Paper 3 orals or listening
- Paper 1
- 80 questions in 1 hour for 40 marks; 40 lexis and 40 structure outside Ghana
- Paper 2
- Essay, comprehension and summary in 2 hours, 100 marks
- Paper 3
- 60 questions in 45 minutes, 30 marks (Test of Orals in Nigeria and Liberia)
- Grades
- A1 to F9
- Run by
- West African Examinations Council (WAEC)
Updated by the Tigertest team. Practice questions follow WAEC's English Language syllabus as published by waecsyllabus.com (updated September 5, 2026) and myschool.ng, which agree with the hosted syllabus PDF, and WAEC Nigeria's FAQ, checked November 2026. WAEC's own sites do not serve the syllabus, so the format is the syllabus as those sites reproduce it. Exam rules change, so confirm current details with WAEC Nigeria.
How It Works
Drills by Question Type
Ten drills: vocabulary in context, synonyms and antonyms, idioms, concord, tenses, pronouns and prepositions, then vowels, consonants, rhymes and stress for the Test of Orals. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
Full Practice Tests
Each practice test is the full Paper 1, 80 questions in 1 hour, then 30 Test of Orals questions in 23 minutes. Practice Test 2 is held out of the drills, so it measures how ready you are.
Built on the WAEC English Language Syllabus
Paper 1 follows the syllabus as published by syllabus sites: 80 four-option questions, forty on lexis and forty on structure in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia. The Test of Orals section covers the six areas the syllabus lists for Nigeria and Liberia. Paper 2, Ghana's literature questions and the listening test are not modelled. Your score is percent correct, since WAEC publishes no conversion to grades.
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Share FeedbackHow to Score High in WASSCE English Objectives
1. Keep to 45 seconds a question
Paper 1 gives you 1 hour for 80 questions. Answer the ones you know at once, mark the hard ones and come back to them before time runs out.
2. Read the whole sentence
In a gap-filling question, the right word must fit both the grammar and the meaning. Check the subject before choosing a verb, and look for clues such as since, by the time or if that fix the tense.
3. Learn the vocabulary of each field
The syllabus lists sixteen fields, from building and fishing to the stock exchange and the human body. Learn the everyday words of each one, the words an educated reader of a newspaper would know.
4. Trust the sounds, not the spelling
In the Test of Orals, spelling often misleads: the ea in break is not the ea in bread, and the s in sugar sounds like the c in ocean. Learn the phonetic symbols, the common silent letters and the stress rules for -tion words and for nouns and verbs such as record and object.
WASSCE English Frequently Asked Questions
How many questions are in WAEC English Paper 1?
WAEC's English Language syllabus, as published by syllabus sites, sets Paper 1 as 80 objective questions in 1 hour for 40 marks, each with four options lettered A to D. In Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia that is forty on lexis and forty on structure. Tigertest practice tests have the full 80 Paper 1 questions in 1 hour, split the same way.
What does the WASSCE English syllabus cover?
For Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia, lexis covers the vocabulary of everyday life and of sixteen fields of activity (building, agriculture, fishing, the stock exchange, health, the environment, ceremonies, law and order, motor vehicles and travel, government, sports, religion, science and technology, animal husbandry, advertising and the human body), plus synonyms, antonyms, idioms and figurative usage. Structure covers word forms for number, tense and degree, how words combine into sentences, and structural words such as conjunctions, determiners and prepositions. Paper 3 covers vowels, consonants and clusters, rhymes, word stress and syllables, emphatic stress and intonation, and phonetic symbols.
What is the Test of Orals?
Paper 3 is 60 multiple-choice items in 45 minutes for 30 marks. Candidates in Nigeria and Liberia take the Test of Orals, on sounds, rhymes, stress and intonation. Candidates in The Gambia and Sierra Leone (and, in the syllabus's detailed section, Ghana) take a listening comprehension test from a recording instead, which Tigertest does not model. Tigertest's orals section has 30 questions in 23 minutes, half the paper at the same pace, judged by standard British pronunciation.
Does Tigertest cover the essay, comprehension and summary?
No. Paper 2 is written: an essay of at least 450 words on one of five topics, a comprehension passage and a summary, in 2 hours for 100 marks. It needs a teacher to mark it, so Tigertest covers only the two objective papers. Paper 2 carries 100 of the 170 marks, so practise writing too. Ghana's Paper 1 is different: of its 80 questions, 30 are lexis, 20 structure and 30 literature on set drama, prose and poetry, so this practice matches the Nigerian, Sierra Leonean, Liberian and Gambian paper.
How is WASSCE English graded?
WAEC reports results as grades from A1 to F9. Tigertest found no published table of how marks turn into grades, so Tigertest shows your percent correct, not a grade. A high percent on both objective papers is a strong sign that your lexis, structure and orals are ready.
Are these WAEC past questions?
No. These are original practice questions written to WAEC's English Language syllabus, not WAEC past questions. They use British English and West African names and settings. Both practice tests and all ten drills are free, with no account required. Tigertest is not affiliated with or endorsed by WAEC.
I teach an SS3 English class or WAEC lesson. Can my students use Tigertest?
Yes, for free. Make a class at tigertest.io/teach, post one link, and students join with just their name. You see who practiced, their test scores and the topics your class misses most.
WASSCE English sample questions and answers
6 of the 270 practice questions, one from each topic, with the answer explained.
- 1.
Choose the option that best completes the sentence.
The ...... filter waste from the blood and produce urine.
- A.
arteries
- B.
intestines
- C.
kidneys
- D.
lungs
Answer: C.The kidneys remove waste and extra water from the blood as urine. The lungs exchange gases and arteries carry blood from the heart.
- A.
- 2.
Choose the option most nearly opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
The committee decided to postpone the meeting.
- A.
delay
- B.
adjourn
- C.
cancel
- D.
bring forward
Answer: D.To postpone is to move to a later time, so the opposite is to bring forward. Adjourn and delay are close in meaning, and to cancel is to drop it altogether.
- A.
- 3.
Choose the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence.
"But for the rain, the match would have been played."
- A.
The rain began after the match
- B.
There was no rain that day
- C.
The rain stopped the match
- D.
The match was played in the rain
Answer: C.But for means without or if it had not been for, so the rain was the reason the match was not played.
- A.
- 4.
Choose the option that best completes the sentence.
...... he was tired, he finished the work before leaving.
- A.
Despite
- B.
Unless
- C.
Because
- D.
Although
Answer: D.Although introduces a contrast with a full clause. Despite must be followed by a noun, as in despite his tiredness.
- A.
- 5.
Choose the option that best completes the sentence.
The new hospital ...... next year by the government.
- A.
will open
- B.
has opened
- C.
opens
- D.
will be opened
Answer: D.Next year needs the future, and by the government shows the passive: will be opened.
- A.
- 6.
Choose the option that best completes the sentence.
The headmaster ...... welcomed the visitors at the gate.
- A.
themselves
- B.
hisself
- C.
itself
- D.
himself
Answer: D.The emphatic pronoun for the headmaster is himself. Hisself is not standard English.
- A.
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