How to Pass NECO Examination In One Sitting

Do you want to know the secret to pass the NECO examination in one sitting without cheating?

Worried that you might fail the dreaded Neco exams?

Allow me to congratulate you in advance. Why? Because you’re about to set a record for passing your Neco exam in one sitting with multiple A’s.

How is this possible you might ask? Well, the answer is before you. By the end of this article, you would have been desensitized from all the rubbish you’ve heard about the “Almighty Neco ” and be fully equipped with the proper mindset and information necessary to ace all your papers at once.

But I must warn you! If you’re looking for an easy way out, and by that I mean… if you are looking for where to get free or paid ‘Expo’ then this is not for you, kindly exit this page as we do not support malpractice.

Now let’s get started. Allow me to congratulate you once more. This is for choosing to be a good student, you’re still reading this so I’m guessing you’re one of the serious ones. So without further delay let’s dive right into the gist for the day.

First, how about a little history? You should at least have an idea of what you’re about to do and why it’s important.

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What is NECO?

NECO was established in April 1999 by former Head of state Abdusalami Abubakar as a replacement for the National Board of Education Measurements which was created in 1992 during the Ibrahim Babaginda administration.

NECO is an acronym for National Examination Council. Neco is the official body in Nigeria that has the responsibility of conducting the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination which is usually held in June/July yearly. It is also in charge of conducting the General Certificate in Education Examination which takes place in November/December every year.

For those who did not pass their Waec exams, Neco is the next best alternative. The Neco result can be used on its own by admission seekers or it can be combined with Waec results to meet the requirements of your proposed higher institution.

Other examinations conducted yearly by the council include-

The National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) for primary 6 pupils, comes with a registration fee of N2,500
The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE)- for junior secondary school students it costs N4000 to register
The Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) for both internal and external which costs N9,850

You can visit the official NECO website www.neco.gov.ng to access more information about the examinations and to register for your exam.

NECO Registration Requirements

As an aspiring candidate, there are certain criteria you must fulfil to register for the NECO exam. Let’s look at them

First, you must be a senior student in either a public or private secondary school in Nigeria
Pick out the subjects you want to register according to your class speciality i.e if you are under Science Arts or Social Sciences, you will have to pick different subjects accordingly with Maths and English as core subjects.
You must have the registration fee of N9,850
Have a personal email address and write the password down so you don’t forget it
A personal phone number
Date of birth
Know the correct spelling and placement of your name. (Surname, First name before middle name). This might sound funny but so many people mess up here. One simple mistake with spelling and placement can be disastrous especially when you want to use that certificate to apply for admission.
Know your state and local government of origin
Know your home address
Finally, prepare for the examination

Reasons Why Students Fail NECO

Now that we know more about NECO, it’s time to look at why many students fail this exam. Through the years many students who sat for both NECO and WAEC examinations reported that NECO questions were tougher and the past results have shown more failures in NECO Exams than other senior secondary examinations held in the country, NABTEB inclusive. But why is that so? Let’s take a look at some major reasons

1 Late preparation

2 Distractions especially with social media

3 Depending on Expo/Miracle centres

4 Laziness

5 Failure to attend classes and tutorials

6 Not studying with past questions/ syllabus

7 Failing to read instructions and questions carefully

8 Providing answers in the wrong way

Learn more about the difference between WAEC and NECO.

14 Useful Tips To Help You Ace Your Neco Exams

1: Be Confident

Every battle is first fought and won in the mind before it turns into reality. This applies in every area of life. Once you are afraid of something, chances are you will not perform to your maximum capacity. What are your fears concerning this Neco exam or exams in general? Do you feel like you are not intelligent or do you know people who have written and failed so many times? Maybe you have failed an exam in the past but you need to put those fears aside.

You need to have the confidence in yourself that you can pass this exam just like any other person. Look at things with a positive mind. After all, if a human being one head wrote those questions then you also as a human being can answer the questions.

2: Picture your dream result and set specific goals

Create a mental image of what your dream result will be. How many A’s, B’s or C’s are you aiming at? Do you want to see D, E and F? If not, then you have to work towards it. First thing is to have a clear mental picture, then you transfer that to paper. What do I mean? First, write out a list of your subjects in a notebook. By the side of each subject, write out your desired grades.

For example

Mathematics. B2

English. A1

Biology. B2

Chemistry. B3

Physics. B2

Agricultural science. A1

Economics. C5

Civic education. A1

Yoruba. C6

Create your list with your desired grade just like the example above and place it somewhere you can see all the time lastly when writing out your dream result, do not write down anything less than a C6 . This will motivate you to work harder towards achieving your goal.

3: Start Studying

If you haven’t started reading for your papers up till this moment, I urge you to start studying without further delay! And by all means, avoid the fire brigade method. Do not wait till the exam timetable is out or a few weeks before the exam to start reading. You will only be shooting yourself in the foot. There will be too much on your hands, you might not be able to cover all the important topics and even if you do, there’s every tendency that you will forget a lot of what you read. Unless you have a photographic memory, you shouldn’t leave anything to chance.

Never think it’s too early to start studying for your NECO exams, the earlier you begin, the more time you have to read all the topics on the syllabus for all your subjects. Depending on your assimilation rate, you can revisit the topics again and still have time for revision before your exam commences.

4: Create a personal study timetable

While you study, it’s good you have a personal timetable at home to help you stay organised and focused. To get started, you need to write out the days of the week, write out your subjects and share them for each day of the week, then allocate specific hours to each subject. Keep in mind your daily activities while leaving out a day for rest, it could be any day of the week, depending on what works for you. You can Start by studying two subjects daily for one hour respectively. Lastly, give more attention to your weaknesses. Allocate time to those subjects you find difficult.

5: Study with Recommended Textbooks

Studying with textbooks is good but studying with recommended textbooks is better. NECO usually releases a list of recommended textbooks alongside the syllabus. You must get some of these textbooks for study purposes. This is because these textbooks have been recognised to contain the necessary topics in the examination syllabus and their method of teaching has been approved by the exam council i.e the council will set exam questions according to the teaching standards in the textbooks, so your chances of answering questions better increases dramatically. You can get them from the library, from friends or if you have the money you can buy them.

6: Read in Line with Neco Syllabus

NECO syllabus contains topics and subtopics for every subject. The syllabus is there as a guideline for both candidates and examiners.

Examiners make use of this syllabus to set the examination questions, so you can rest assured that whatever is not in the syllabus will not appear on the question paper. However, if there’s a topic on the syllabus that seems strange to you, try to study it even if you were not taught.

7: Make Use of Neco Past Questions and Answers

I cannot overemphasize the need for you to add Neco Past questions and answers to your study items. If you want those A’s in your dream result then you should try this. Yes, this is the only legitimate expo you can carry out. Every year certain questions have been repeated by Neco and you can gain access to this by getting yourself a copy of the past questions. It is usually sold in bookshops or schools and contains all the questions from 2001- present year. But this does not mean you should go and cram all the questions, even that would be impossible. You can take your time to study each year’s questions and identify the questions which have been repeated severally. Take note of these questions and thank me later

8: Don’t skip classes

If you’re still attending school then you must not skip classes. I know there’s this urge to act like a big boy/girl when you’re in SS3, but don’t yield to temptations. Now is not the time to skip classes, especially your practical classes for the science students. Most of what you do during practicals in schools is what will be brought to you during exams. And for non-science students, certain explanations can only be gotten from the lips of your teacher in a classroom and no textbook will teach you that.

9: Register for extra lessons

Whether or not you’re done with school, try to get involved in extra lessons. If you can afford a private tutor, go ahead but if not Waec, Jamb and Neco lesson centres are very common in the country. Just choose one that is good and attend. Most times our teachers in school may not be able to cover the syllabus, these lesson centres will help to bridge the gap. You get to receive answers and detailed explanations to your questions without the normal tension that comes with a classroom.

10: Get a reading partner

Two heads they say is better than one which might just be what you need, an extra head. Some people find it difficult to read alone and if you’re one of those who get bored easily reading all by themselves, you can get a study buddy, choose any of your friends who you know are equally as serious as you are in passing this exam to avoid getting distracted.

11: Revise

It’s not just enough to read, you need to occasionally revisit previous pages you have studied. It’s advisable to always read any book at least twice, then take down notes, jot things down in your own words so that when you want to revise, you no longer need a textbook, just go over your jottings and this will understand and memorise better.

12: Be consistent

Someone who studies one hour daily for five months before the exam and another person who studies eight hours today and neglects his books for the next one month, who do you think will be more prepared at the start of the exams? The first one of course! Why? Because he was consistent. You have to make up your mind to always pick up your book daily and study, even if it’s just for 30 minutes. A little drop they say makes an ocean.

13: Test yourself

As your exams approach, you should set up a mock examination for yourself to see how well prepared you are. You can do this with the aid of the Neco question and answer. Copy out some of the challenging questions, have someone maybe a friend or sibling preferably someone older to act as an examiner. They will supervise you to make sure you’re not stealing glances at the back to see the answers and then they will score you. If you don’t have anybody around, just get yourself a stopwatch or set an alarm on your phone to time yourself. Answer the questions and score yourself without bias. This will help keep your mind in sharp conditions for your upcoming exams.

14: Arrive early to the examination venue

Lastly, try as much as possible to get to the examination hall at least one hour before time. Sometimes examiners can decide to start the exam early, you arriving late to the hall can kill your confidence and ultimately affect your performance.

How to Answer NECO Questions: Objective

Now that you have burnt the midnight candle, you’ll have to make sure all that effort was not in vain. Here are some tips to help you answer the questions correctly

Read the Instructions for every question paper and make sure you abide by them.
Shade properly and carefully- you will be given an OMR sheet containing the options A, B, C, D, E for the objective part, make sure your shading is thick and does not touch two options. Also, be careful not to tear your paper.
Use a good pencil preferably an HB pencil or anyone that has a dark shade
Answer all questions- you mustn’t leave any question unanswered, even if you don’t know the answer.

How to Answer NECO Questions: Theory

Read the instructions carefully to avoid mistakes.
Do not skip compulsory questions. For the theory section, you are not supposed to answer all questions but when choosing which ones to answer, check to see if there are any compulsory questions and make sure you answer them. They usually attract higher scores
Choose questions wisely- some questions come with a lot of grandchildren e.g 1a 1ai 1aii. Go through all the questions and pick only the ones you are sure can complete all its options or at least 70%
Start answering from the ones you know well, before moving to the more difficult ones and keep in mind you have limited time
Understand Neco terms. For example, if you are asked to list, enumerate, state, outline or mention. You should write them as shown below

…….
…….
…….

No extra explanation is required.

But if you are asked to explain, show, or discuss, you are expected to list out your answers and give further details.

6. Go over your answers before you submit them. When you finish and still have time back and check to see if you skipped any question, cross-check your answers and then submit your answer sheet.

How to Answer NECO Questions: Practicals

Stay in touch with your teachers in charge of the subject practical and examination centre for updates concerning the specimen/apparatus required.
Draw according to Neco standards. In case you are asked to draw, you must follow these instructions
Draw to a given scale, if there is none, draw big
Do not use biro, use only pencil throughout even for labelling
Use a dark shade pencil
Avoid shading
Place all your labelling on one side of the paper
The title of the diagram should be written at the bottom of the page and in capital letters
If you need to clean any mistake, make sure you erase neatly

Conclusion

If you’ve read till this part, well done. You now have the right information to conquer NECO and come out victorious. Here’s some final advice for you- while you study try to eat well and get good sleep to keep your body healthy. The last thing you want is to fall sick very close to your exams. And most importantly seal all your efforts with prayer. Go and ace that exam champ!