Literature in English Waec Syllabus
Below is this 2025 Waec Syllabus for Literature in English. Note that this syllabus is for both internal and external candidates.
Aims and Objectives
No published Aims and Objectives.
Scheme of Examination
There will be three papers: Papers 1, 2, and 3. Papers 1 and 2 will be composite paper and taken at one sitting.
Paper 1
will be a multiple-choice objective test. It will contain fifty questions, distributed as follows:
- Twenty questions on General Knowledge of Literature;
- Five questions on an unseen prose passage:
- Five questions on an unseen poem:
- Twenty context questions on the prescribed Shakespearean text.
Candidates will be required to answer all the questions within 1 hour for 50 marks.
Paper 2
will be an essay test with two sections, Sections A and B. Section A will be on African Prose and Section B on Non-African Prose.
Two essay questions will be set for each of the novels prescribed for study. Candidates shall be required to answer one question only from each section within 1 hour and 15 minutes for 50 marks.
Paper 3
will be on the drama and poetry components of the syllabus. It will be put into four sections, Sections A, B, C, and D, as follows:
- Section A: African Drama
- Section B: Non-African Drama
- Section C: African Poetry
- Section D: Non-African Poetry
There shall be two questions on each of the prescribed drama texts for Sections A and B. There shall also be two questions for each of the poetry sections, i.e., Sections C and D.
Candidates shall be required to answer one question from each of the sections, making a total of four questions. The paper will take 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete and will carry 100 marks.
Detailed Literature in English Syllabus
Categories / textbooks
- African Prose
- Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta
- Unexpected Joy by Alex Agyei-Agyiri (2018 Edition)
- Non-African Prose
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
- Shakespearean Text
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- African Drama
- Let me Die ALone by John K. Kargo
- The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka
- Non-African Drama
- Fences by August Wilson
- Look Back in Anger by John Osborne
- African Poetry
- “Raider of the Treasure Trove” by Lade Qosrnu
- “Black Woman” by Leopold Sedar Senghor
- “The Grieved Lands” by Agostinho Neto
- “The Song of the Women of my Land” by Oumar Farouk Sesay
- “A Government Driver on his Retirement” by Onu Chibuike
- Non-African Poetry
- “The Good Morrow” by John Donne
- “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou
- “The Journey of the Magi” by T.S. Eliot
- “Do not Go Gentle into the Good Night” by Dylan Thomas
- “Binsey Poplars (Felled 1879)” by G.M. Hopkins
- “Bat” by David H. Lawrence
- Note:
- The Unseen Prose passage for Paper 1 shall be about 120–150 words long.
- Only context questions shall be set in the Shakespearean text. The context questions will test such items as theme, characterization, style, and setting in the Shakespearean text.
- No essay question shall be set in the Shakespearean text.
Download Complete PDF
View the Literature in English Waec Syllabus as text below or download the syllabus as a PDF below. Please use the button below to Download offline PDF files for external or internal Waec.
Related Syllabus