John Kapi, Head of Public Relations at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), has attributed the significant drop in Core Mathematics performance in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to identifiable skill gaps among candidates. Speaking on the JOY Super Morning Show, Mr. Kapi highlighted seven specific areas where students struggled most, including representing mathematical information in diagrams, solving global math-related problems, constructing cumulative frequency tables, making deductions from real-life scenarios, applying simple interest formulas, translating word problems into mathematical expressions, and interpreting results from cumulative frequency data.
“These are areas that the chief examiners can clearly identify as weaknesses in the candidates’ performance. These topics are well within the syllabus and examination blueprint,” he explained.
WAEC’s provisional results show that 220,008 of the 461,736 candidates failed Core Mathematics, marking the worst performance in the subject in seven years. The percentage of candidates achieving grades A1 to C6 dropped drastically from 66.86% in 2024 to just 48.73% in 2025, a decline of nearly 18 percentage points. Out of the total candidates, 209,068 attained grades A1 to C6, while 114,872 candidates (26.77%) scored an F9, failing the subject outright.
A total of 1,021 schools registered candidates for the examination, a slight 0.24% increase from 2024, while 5,821 candidates (1.26%) were absent.
Mr. Kapi emphasised that the decline does not reflect a change in the curriculum but rather underscores the urgent need to strengthen teaching practices and ensure students develop practical problem-solving skills. He encouraged educators and learners to focus on understanding mathematical concepts in real-world contexts to improve performance in future examinations.
