2023/2024 WAEC Syllabus for Biology (By Sections A, B & C)

The WAEC syllabus is a written document containing the order in which a course should be taught and the areas of Concentration for which students will be assessed on the course.

Thus, the WAEC syllabus for Biology contains the area of concern which a student should expect questions to be gotten from. It also contains guidelines on how questions should be answered and the country that should answer each question.

The examination will be divided into three Sections (A, B, and C), and three papers (1, 2, and 3).

Section A is for all candidates

Section B is for candidates in Ghana only

Section C is for candidates in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Liberia.

For the papers, all must be taken. However, Papers 1 and 2 will be taken in one sitting, while paper 3 will be a practical test (for school candidates) or a test of practical work (for private candidates) lasting 2 hours and consisting of sections A, B, and C.

Biology Syllabus Topics

Section A

• Concept of Living
• Living and non-living things
• Classification of living things into Kingdoms: Monera, Protoctista (Protista), Fungi, Plantae, Animalia.
• 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 system, excretory system, 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
• Organelles for movement: cilia and flagella
• Cyclosis
• Reproduction: Types of reproduction.
• As*xual: fission, budding, and vegetative propagation.
• S*xual: Conjugation, formation of male and female gametes (gametogenesis), a fusion of gametes fertilization)
• Skeleton and supporting systems in animals
• Biological significance.
• Skeletal materials, e.g. bone
• Cartilage and chitin
• Types of skeleton
• The 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 the 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
• Need for transport
• Surface area/volume ratio
• Substances have to move greater distances.
• Transport in animals
• Structure of the heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries.
• Composition and function of blood and lymph.
• Materials for transport: excretory products, gases, digested food, and other nutrients
• Transport in plants
• Uptake and movement of water and mineral salts in plants.
• 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. Excretory products of plants (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
• 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.
• Peripheral Nervous System.
• Somatic Nervous System
• Autonomic nervous system
• Structure and functions of the neuron
• Classification of neurones
• Types of nervous actions
• The reflex arc
• Reflex and voluntary actions
• Differences between reflex and voluntary actions.
• Conditioned reflex and its role in the behaviour
• Sense Organs
• Structure and function of the
• Eye
• Ear
• The reproductive system of mammals
• 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
• Metamorphosis in insects, life histories of butterfly and cockroach
• Comparison of reproduction in fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammal
• 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.
• Pollination in Plants
• Types of pollination
• Features of cross-pollinated and self-pollinated flowers
• Agents of Pollination
• Process of development of zygote in flowering plants
• Fertilization
• Types of fruits (classification).
• Structure of fruits
• Dispersal of fruits and seeds: Agents of dispersal
• Plant and Animal Nutrition
• Plant Nutrition
• Photosynthesis:
• Process of photosynthesis and its chemical equation
• Light and dark reactions
• Materials and conditions necessary for photosynthesis
• Evidence of photosynthesis
• Mineral requirement of plants
• Mineral nutrition: Macro and micro-nutrients
• Soil and atmosphere as sources of mineral elements
• Animal Nutrition
• Food substances; classes and sources
• A balanced diet and its importance
• Digestive enzymes: Classes, characteristics, and functions
• Modes of Nutrition
• Autotrophic: Photosynthesis,
• Heterotrophic: holozoic, parasitic, symbiotic and saprophytic
• Alimentary System: Alimentary tract of different animals
• Dental Formula
• 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
• 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
• Energy flow
• Food/Energy relationship in the aquatic and terrestrial environment.
• Pyramid of energy and the Pyramid of numbers.
• Decomposition in nature
• Decomposers: (micro and macro-decomposers)
• Gaseous products
• Role of decomposers
• Ecological Management:
• Biological Associations
• Type of associations: Parasitism, symbiosis, commensalism and saprophytism.
• Adaptation of organisms to habitats.
• Pollution of the atmosphere
• Nature, names, sources, and effects of air pollutants
• Effect of noise
• Water and Soil Pollution
• Type and effects of pollutants
• 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
• Factors that affect the population size: natality, mortality, emigration, immigration, food shortage, predation, competition, and diseases.
• Preservation and storage of foods
• The life of selected insects;
• Weevils and cotton strainers
• Control of pests
• 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)
• Conservation of Natural Resources
• Resources to be conserved: soil, water, wildlife, forest, and minerals.
• Ways of ensuring conservation
• Variation in Population
• Morphological variations in the physical appearance of individuals
• Size, height, and weight
• Colour (skin, eye, hair coat of animals)
• Fingerprints
• 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, s*x determination, and s*x-linked characters.
• Application of the principles of heredity in:
• Agriculture
• Medicine
• Adaptation for Survival and Evolution
• Behavioral Adaptations in Social Animals.
• Termites
• Bees
• Evolution
• Evidence of evolution
• Theories of evolution.

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