Top 9 Expert Tips On How To Pass GCE Exams In 2025

The General Certificate Education Examination (GCE) is a supplementary examination that is written by candidates who were unable to obtain the required credits from their SSCE results since the standard for the two examinations is usually the same and both exams are conducted by the same examination body, WAEC.

The GCE examination is usually written in October/November with a minimum of seven and a maximum of nine subjects with Mathematics and English as compulsory subjects to be registered by each candidate.

Contrary to the fable told by folks about the exam, the GCE is not as difficult as they claim and you do not need brain support (as they call it) so you could pass as long as you prepare appropriately even if you were jinxed.

How To Pass GCE Exams

1. Forget The Fables

The easiest way to fail is to prepare with the ideology that you can’t pass, why are you even preparing for the exams when you’re so sure you’ll not make it? There’s a popular quote that goes around at times when candidates are preparing for the exam, people telling you, “You’re not the first, you’re not going to make it, you’ll need to pass through illicit means” It all boils down to if you believe it. If you don’t, you’ll do all it takes to succeed and that is the mindset been need you to cultivate, the “I can do it” mindset.

2. Understand How GCE Works

The GCE examination is usually conducted by WAEC as stated earlier and isn’t much different from the SSCE so to pass, prepare more than you did for SSCE, know the procedure, and understand the exam format, you could make use of the syllabus to help you know the topics to focus on.

3. Set To Work

Believing you can do it solves half the problem but the next is to get to work. All hands must be on deck, prepare yourself to pass, dig up topics you couldn’t cover, read between the lines, and keep reading. Know what my dad said then, “Burn the midnight candle” and that was what I did, I won’t brag it was all fun, there were days it was hard, but keep pushing, keep reading.

4. Use Past Questions

Past questions are a checklist, use it. Questions repeat themselves each year, you might be lucky to land the past question that may be repeated that year but in all, read to know, read to be equipped. Good thing the examination takes the same format as the SSCE you’d just written so if you had followed the questions and format, you’d know how to navigate your way through.

5. Find A Teammate

Teammates make reading fun and faster, you can listen to your reading material, and explain stuff he/she read while you note down the necessary points and explain yours, this way, reading is made faster and funnier and you do not need to read up the whole topics since you have someone doing the lecturing part.

6. Be Your Examiner

Set questions for yourself from time to time, and test your ability to remember everything you’ve read, it’s a way of getting ready for the chore.

7. Focus On The Topics You Can Cover

And if you can’t read everything, read deep into the ones you can, cover everything in that topic, and do not leave any stone unturned. Read that topic and be sure you can answer any question tossed at you from that topic.

8. Cut Off Distractions

Friends, social media, games, anything that could deter your success, anything that consumed more of your time, cut off on them. People, things, or places that could keep you at it with nothing connected to your goal (which is to pass) at the moment, cut off on them till you achieve your target.

9. Eat, Sleep And Read

Finally, eating healthy helps the body and the brain, you can’t read and write an exam when your body is suffering, so eat, and get enough sleep but do not forget the whole essence which is to pass, thus read.

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