The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has explained the high failure rate in Core Mathematics for the 2025 WASSCE. More than half of students—220,008 out of 461,736—failed the subject. This is the worst result in seven years and a drop of nearly 18% in passing grades from last year.
WAEC Head of Public Relations John Kapi spoke on Joy FM on Monday, December 1, 2025. He pointed to seven main skill gaps. These are all in the syllabus and test plan.
The seven problem areas are:
- Representing mathematical information in diagrams – Students could not show data or problems in graphs or drawings.
- Solving global math-related problems – Difficulty with wider math issues from everyday life.
- Constructing cumulative frequency tables – Trouble building tables that add up data step by step.
- Making deductions from real-life problems – Unable to draw conclusions from practical situations.
- Solving simple interest applications – Struggles with basic interest calculations in real scenarios.
- Translating word problems into mathematical expressions – Hard time turning words into equations or formulas.
- Interpreting results from cumulative frequency data – Problems understanding what the data means.
Mr. Kapi said these gaps show where schools need to help more. “These are clear weaknesses from the chief examiners. They are not outside the syllabus,” he explained.
WAEC will share more details and tips soon to fix these issues before next exams.
