Biology Waec Syllabus

Below is this 2025 Waec Syllabus for Biology. Note that this syllabus is for both internal and external candidates.

Aims and Objectives

  • understanding of the structure and functions of living organisms as well as appreciation of nature
  • acquisition of adequate laboratory and field skills in order to carry out and evaluate experiments and projects in Biology
  • acquisition of necessary scientific skills, for example, observing, classifying and interpreting biological data
  • acquisition of the basic relevant knowledge in Biology needed for future advanced studies in biological sciences
  • acquisition of scientific attitudes for problem-solving
  • ability to apply biological principles in everyday life in matters that affect personal, social, environmental, community health and economic problems
  • awareness of the existence of interrelationships between biology and other scientific disciplines

Scheme of Examination

There will be three papers: Papers 1, 2, and 3, all of which must be taken. Papers 1 and 2 will be composite papers to be taken in one sitting.

PAPER 1:

This will consist of fifty multiple-choice objective questions drawn from Section A of the syllabus (the section of the syllabus that is common to all countries). It will carry 50 marks and last for 50 minutes.

PAPER 2:

This will consist of six essay questions drawn from the entire syllabus. The paper will be put into three sections: Sections A, B and C.

Section A:

Will consist of four questions drawn from Section A of the syllabus.

Section B:

It will be for candidates in Ghana only and will be drawn from Section B of the syllabus (i.e., the section of the syllabus peculiar to Ghana). It will consist of short, structured questions.

Section C:

It will be for candidates in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Liberia and will be drawn from Section C of the syllabus (i.e., the section of the syllabus containing material for those countries only). It will also consist of short-structured questions.

Candidates will be expected to answer two questions from Section A and all the short-structured questions from either Section B or Section C.

Each question in Section A will carry 20 marks, while the compulsory short-structured questions in Sections B and C will carry 30 marks. The total score will be 70 marks. The paper shall take 1 hour and 40 minutes.

PAPER 3:

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 three sections: Sections A, B and C.

Section A:

This will consist of two compulsory questions drawn from Section A of the syllabus, each carrying 25 marks.

Section B:

This will be for candidates in Ghana only. It will consist of one question drawn from Section B of the syllabus and will carry 30 marks.

Section C:

This will be for candidates in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and Liberia. It will consist of one question drawn from Section C of the syllabus and will carry 30 marks.

Candidates will be expected to answer all the questions in Section A and one question in either Section B or C. The paper will carry a total score of 80 marks.

Detailed Biology Syllabus

Concept of Living

  1. Classification
    • Living and non-living things
    • Classification of living things into Kingdoms
    • Differences between plants and animals
  2. Organization of life
    • Levels of organization
      • 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.
    • Complexity of organization in higher organisms: advantages and disadvantages
  3. 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
  4. Cell
    • Cell structure and functions of cell components
    • Similarities and differences between plant and animal cells
  5. The Cell and its environment
    • Physical and biophysical processes
    • diffusion
    • osmosis
    • active transport
  6. Properties and functions of the living cell
    • Nutrition
      • Autotrophic (photosynthesis)
      • Heterotrophic (holozoic)
    • Cellular respiration
      • 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.
      • Asexual: fission, budding and vegetative propagation
      • Sexual: Conjugation, formation of male and female gametes (gametogenesis), fusion of gametes fertilization)
  7. Tissues and supporting systems
    • Skeletons and supporting systems in animals
      • Biological significance
      • Skeletal materials, e.g. bone, cartilage and chitin.
      • Types of skeleton: exoskeleton, endoskeleton and hydrostatic skeleton
      • Bones of the vertebral column, girdles and long bones of the appendicular skeleton
      • Mechanisms of support in animals
      • Functions of 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.
  8. 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
      • Translocation
      • Transpiration
      • Movement of water to the apex of trees and herbs
  9. Respiratory System
    • Body surface: cutaneous, gills and lungs.
    • Mechanisms of gaseous exchange in fish, toads, mammals and plants
  10. Excretory Systems and Mechanisms
    • Types of excretory systems: Kidney, stomata and lenticels
  11. Regulation of Internal Environment (Homeostasis)
    • Kidney: Structure and functions
    • Liver
      • Functions of the liver
    • The skin
      • Structure and function
  12. Hormonal Coordination
    • Animal hormones
      • Site of secretion, functions and effects of over and under-secretion
    • Plant hormones
  13. 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 neurone
      • 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 behavior
  14. Sense Organs

    Structure and function of the:

    • Eye
    • Ear
  15. Reproductive System
    • Reproductive systems 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 mammals
    • 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
    • Kinds of placentation: axile, marginal and parietal
    • 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

  1. 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.
  2. Animal Nutrition
    • Food substances; classes and sources
    • Balanced diet and its importance
    • Food tests
    • 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

  1. Ecosystem
    • Components of the ecosystem and sizes
      • Ecological components: environment, biosphere, habitat, population, biotic community and ecosystem
    • Components of the ecosystem
      • Biotic and abiotic
  2. Ecological factors
    • Ecological factors in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
  3. Simple Measurement of Ecological Factors
    • Physical factors: Climatic, topographic and gaseous
    • Edaphic factors: Chemical and physical composition, moisture content and soil texture
  4. Food webs and trophic levels
    • Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
      • Producers: autotrophs
      • Consumers: heterotrophs
      • Decomposers
    • Trophic levels of energy relationships
      • Food chain
      • Food web
    • Energy flow
      • Food/Energy relationship in aquatic and terrestrial environments
      • Pyramid of energy and Pyramid of numbers
    • Decomposition in nature
      • Decomposers: (micro and macro-decomposers)
      • Gaseous products
      • Role of decomposers
  5. 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
  6. 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, climax of the succession: characteristic of a stable ecosystem
    • Factors that affect 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
  7. Microorganisms: Man and health
    • Carriers of microorganisms
    • Microorganisms in action
      • Beneficial effects in nature, medicine and industries
      • Harmful effects of microorganisms, 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
      • Refuse and sewage disposal
      • Immunization, vaccination and inoculation (control of diseases)

Conservation of Natural Resources

  1. Resources to be conserved: soil, water, wildlife, forest and minerals
  2. Ways of ensuring conservation

Variation in Population

  1. Morphological variations in the physical appearance of individuals
    • size, height and weight
    • colour (skin, eye, hair coat of animals)
    • fingerprints
  2. Physiological Variations
    • Ability to roll tongue
    • Ability to taste
    • phenylthiocarbamide (PTC)
    • Blood groups (ABO) classification

Biology of Heredity (Genetics)

  1. Genetic Terminologies
  2. Transmission and expression of characteristics in organisms
    • Hereditary variation
    • Mendel’s work in genetics
      • Mendel’s experiments
      • Mendelian traits
      • Mendelian laws
  3. Chromosomes: The basis of heredity
    • Structure
    • Process of transmission of hereditary characters from parents to offspring
  4. Probability in genetics (Hybrid formation)
  5. Linkage, sex determination and sex-linked characters
  6. Application of the principles of heredity in
    • Agriculture
    • Medicine

Adaptation for survival and Evolution

  1. Behavioural Adaptations in Social Animals
    • Termites
    • Bees
  2. Evolution
    • Evidence of evolution
    • Theories of evolution

SECTION B

  1. Introducing Biology
    • Biology as a science of life
    • Procedure for biological work
    • Importance of Biology
    • Body symmetry, sectioning and orientation
    • The microscope
    • Biological drawings
  2. Cell Biology
    • Movement of substances into and out of cells: Endocytosis and Exocytosis
    • Nucleic acids
    • DNA structure and replication, RNA transcription
    • Protein synthesis
    • Cell cycle
  3. Life Processes in Living Things
    • Amoeba, Paramecium, and Euglena
    • Spirogyra and Rhizopus
    • Mosses and ferns
  4. Diversity of Living Things
    • Characteristics of some of the orders of Class Insecta
    • Identification of organisms using biological keys
  5. Interactions in Nature Soil
  6. Mammalian Anatomy and Physiology
    • Dissection of a small mammal
    • Transport: Structure of the mammalian heart
    • Cellular respiration
    • Movement
      • Muscles
      • Skeletal tissues
    • Reproduction
      • Secondary sexual characteristics
      • Prenatal/Antenatal care
  7. Plant Structure and Physiology
    • Morphology of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants.
    • Transport: Guttation
    • Reproduction: Floral formula
  8. Humans and their Environment
    • Integrated water resources management
    • Health and hygiene
      • Drug abuse
      • Community Health
      • First Aid
  9. Evolution
    • Recombinant DNA Technology
  10. Biology and Industry
    • Biology and water industry
      • Contamination of water
      • Identification of polluted water
      • Wastewater treatment
    • Biology and fishing industry
      • Fish stock management
      • Fish farming
    • Biology and food industry
      • Food additives
    • Biology and Agriculture
    • Biotechnology
    • Biological fuel generation

SECTION C

  1. Concept of Living
    • Cell theory
    • Irritability as a basic characteristic of protoplasm
      • Types of responses: taxis and nastism
      • Environmental factors that evoke responses; temperature, pH etc
    • Excretory Systems
      • Diseases of the kidney: Nephritis, kidney stone and diuresis, Their effects and remedies.
      • Diseases of the liver: infective hepatitis, cancer of the liver and gallstones. Their effects and remedies
  2. Sense organs
    • Nose
    • Tongue
    • The skin
  3. Reproduction
    • Courtship behaviour in animals
      • Pairing
      • Display e.g. peacocks
      • Territoriality
      • Seasonal migration associated with breeding in herrings, eels and birds.
    • Metamorphosis and life history of houseflies.
    • Adaptive features in a developing animal
      • Yolk in eggs of fish, toads and birds for nourishment
      • Placenta in animals
    • Germination of seeds
      • Essential factors which affect developing embryos.
      • Types of germination

Plant and Animal Nutrition

  1. Nitrogen cycle
  2. Modes of nutrition:
    • autotrophic, chemosynthetic, and carnivorous plants
  3. Alimentary System
    • Alimentary tracts of different animals
    • Description and function of various parts.
  4. Feeding habits
    • Categories: Carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous
    • Modifications and mechanisms associated with the following habits; filter feeding, fluid feeding, feeding adaptation in insects, saprophytic feeding, parasitic feeding etc.

Basic Ecological Concepts

  1. Ecological Components:
    • Lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, niche
  2. Population Studies by Sampling
    • Population size
    • Dominance
    • Density
  3. Energy transformation in nature
    • Energy loss in the ecosystem
    • Solar radiation: its intake and loss at the earth’s surface
    • Energy loss in the biosphere
  4. Nutrient Cycling in Nature
    • Carbon Cycle
      • Process of the carbon cycle
      • Importance of carbon in nature
    • Water Cycle
      • Importance of water cycle
      • Importance of water to living organisms
  5. Ecological Management
    • Tolerance, Minimum and maximum range
  6. Habitats
    • Aquatic habitat: marine, estuarine fresh water under the following headings
      • Characteristics of habitat
      • distribution of plants and animals in the habitat
      • adaptive features of plants and animals in the habitat
    • Terrestrial habitat: marsh, forest, grassland, arid land should be studied under the following headings
      • Characteristics of habitat
      • distribution of plants and animals in habitat
    • Balance in Nature
      • Dynamic equilibrium population and population density
  7. Relevance of Biology to Agriculture
    • Classification of plants based on life cycle
    • Effects of agricultural practices on ecology
      • Bush burning
      • Tillage
      • Fertilizer
      • Herbicide/pesticide
      • Different farming methods
  8. Microorganisms: Man and His Health
    • Microorganisms around us
      • Microorganisms in air and water
      • Groups of microorganisms: bacteria, viruses, some algae, protozoa and some fungi
    • Microorganisms in our bodies and food
    • Public Health
      • Food hygiene and health organization.

Application of Variations

  1. Crime detection
  2. Blood transfusion
  3. Determination of paternity

Evolution

  1. Adaptation for survival
    • Factors that bring about competition
    • Intra and Inter-species competition
    • Relationship between competition and succession
  2. Structural Adaptation for
    • obtaining food protection and defense
    • securing mates for reproduction,
    • regulating body temperature
    • conserving water
  3. Adaptive Colouration Plants and animals Colouration and their functions


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