2023 WAEC Biology Practical Specimen | Questions And Answers

Do you wish to see the 2023 WAEC Biology Practical Specimen, Questions and Answers before every other candidate? If yes, make sure that you read this article from the beginning to the end.

They have been a trending search about the WAEC biology specimen, questions and answers by many of the candidates of the West African Examination Council all over the nations that take the examination.

So many of them have been wishing to get all the information required for the examination before the date. Having noticed that there are limited resources online that could bring solutions to this need, I have decided to help every candidate of the 2023 WAEC examination by publishing this article here.

This article focuses on the complete list of the biology specimens and the instructional guides, the possible questions and answers and the best guides on how to answer biology practical questions accurately.

Contained in article is also a number of special information that would be of high relevance to you as far as WAEC examination is concerned.

To be among these lucky candidates who will see the 2023 WAEC biology Practical Specimen, Questions and the answers before other candidates, kindly take article very serious.

What is Specimen?

Before I proceed to the major focus of the post, I would like to let everyone reading this article to understand the real meaning of specimen and their applications.

I suppose that you may have been taught about the meaning of specimen and what they are used for in your respective secondary schools, but this is another opportunity to let it come afresh in your memory in case you have forgotten it.

For those of you have not been taught about specimen in your schools, you do not have to worry much since you have finally come across the information that I have for you in article.

I hope that you take this article very serious and maximally utilize the information contained therein.

A specimen can be said to mean an individual, living thing or non-living thing or part taken to exemplify or represent a mass of whole number which belong to a class.

By the definition given above, we mean that a specimen gives typical obtainable characteristics of the class in which it belongs to.

Humorously, specimen can be regarded as a particular kind of person, often derogatory a person.

Biologically and medically, specimen can be defined as a whole or part of an organism, plant and animal, organ, tissue, waste/bi-product, chemical, apparatus and objects taken for diagnostic examination or evaluation.

For the sake of this article, specimens are given by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for the purpose of the examination. Candidates of WAEC are expected to study the items (the specimens) given and should be able to answer questions from the studied characteristics.

Usually when WAEC gives specimen for their examinations, they will not the specific areas of the given specimen where you are going to focus your studies on. It is up to the candidates to “study everything” about the specimen; both the physiological features and the morphological features.

For instance, if WAEC has given an “Orange Fruit” as a specimen for the year, as a candidate of the examination, you are expected to study everything you know about Orange fruit.

This ranges from the physical characteristics such as the diagrammatical representation and Taxonomy to inward characteristics like the placentation and so on.

It is when you know all these that you would be able to use it for examination purposes.

Check: Updated May/June WAEC Timetable for 2023 (for Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone)

How to Answer Biology Practical Questions Using Specimen

For perfect answering of WAEC biology practical questions, it required that the candidate of the examination should have good knowledge of the things that have been provided as the specimens.

That is one of the reasons why West African Examination Council (WAEC) gives their practical specimens before the date of the examination.

They do that so that students will prepare well with the guidance of their teacher(s) in such a way that they would be able answer any question on the respective specimen.

Just like any other examinations, Biology practical examination has special techniques that you must follow if you really want to make an “A” in the subject. A good understanding and proper application of these techniques are all you need to answer Biology practical questions using specimen.

In this section, I will be discussing how to answer biology practical questions accurately using the given specimens. The major keys to answering biology practical questions are given below:

1. Understand the Relationship between the given Specimens:

The most important key to answering biology practical questions using different specimens is a good understanding of the relationship between one specimen and the other.

Usually, WAEC and other examination bodies do not give only one specimen for their examinations. It is always a combination of different specimens in which candidates are expected to use one separately or in combination with others.

Once you are able to understand how one specimen can work together with another to produce meaningful result(s), you would be sure that you can answer the questions very well.

For instance, in examination situation candidates could be given Egg Albumen, Petridish, Test tube, Test tube stand, Water bath, Milk, Lizard, Yam, Mammalian intestine, Source of heat, Millons Reagent, Hydrochloric Acid, Tetraoxosulphate (VI) Acid and Water.

At this point, understanding of the relationship between the given specimens is what matters most.

As a smart scholar, once you see the above specimens, your mind should go to detection Amino acid Tyrosine Test, that is, Milon’s Test.

For examination purpose, you are expected to take note of the points while preparing for the examination:

• The name of test that could be conducted using the above specimen
• The functions of each of the specimen during the test
• Objectives of the test
• Principles of the test
• Content of Milon’s Reagent
• Alternative requirements for the test
• Procedure of the test
• Results and Interpretation of the test
• Challenges that could be encountered during the test
• Limitations of the test
• Uses of the test

Although you can figure out that Milon’s Test is required in the examination from the specimens given, it does not mean that all the specimens are going to be used for the test. The understanding of the Milon’s test would help you to select those specimens that would be required.

The same is applicable to other specimens; always check how they are related to each other and specially what they represent and can be used for in combination with others.

If you are able to apply this principle among others successfully, your excellent result in Biology examination would be guaranteed.

2. Practice How to Draw

As far as biology examination, whether theory or practical, is concerned, drawing is another very important key to consider if you want to get a good grade.

For example, organism like adult mosquito could be listed as one the specimen for the biology practical examination. In this case, you are expected to learn how to draw the organism with accurate labeling.

You can get a good labeled drawing of an Adult Mosquito and organisms in any of the WAEC Biology recommended textbooks.

3. Study Biology Theory

To understand biology practical, it is pertinent to have good knowledge of the theory also. You build your understanding of practical based on what you have studied in theory.

Why do you need to study theories for biology practical questions and answers?

This is because; details given in theories can form the basis for your answers in practical examinations.

For example, to study how to draw and label Cervical Vertebrae and the physical characteristics, you have to go theory textbooks and read about Skeletal System properly.

4. Study the Classifications of Organisms – Plants and Animals

The bedrock of biology is Organisms and Classifications, whether for practical purpose or theory examinations.

Whenever plants or animal specimens are given, the first aspect that you should endeavor to study before every other aspects are the organisms’ biological classifications.

For example, if maize plant is given as a specimen, you have to take note of the taxonomy as follow:

Maize

Scientific Name – Zea mays

Classification

Domain – Eukaryota

Kingdom – Plantae

Phylum – Spermatophyta

Subphylum – Angiospermae

Class – Monocotyledonae

Additional thing that you must study about plant taxonomy is the economic importance of any of the selected plants.

If animal like a Giant Land Snail is given, you should study the biological classification as follow:

Giant African Land Snail

Scientific Name – Achatina fulica

Classifications

Domain – Eukaryota

Kingdom – Metazoa

Phylum – Mollusca

Class – Gastropoda

Subclass – Pulmonata

In addition, you should also study about the economic importance and the ecology.

5. Report your Practical Answers Accurately

Writing a good practical report is another important key on how to answer biology practical questions that should not be overlooked. If you have given the right answers to your biology practical examination with a wrong report format, you are bound to lose some of your scores and this will cost you your grade.

6. Strictly Follow the Practical Guidelines

During your biology practical examination, they should be no reason why you will divert from the WAEC-given instructions, whether you feel that they are right or wrong.

If the instruction says you should dissect a specimen vertically, ensure that you do not dissect it horizontally.

If the practically guide says you should heat 5ml of a specimen for 2 minutes, make sure that you follow the instruction strictly, otherwise you will not get the required result and it will result in your poor performance.

A good grade would be guaranteed if you can apply the keys that I have revealed to you in this section during your practical examination,

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2023 WAEC Biology Specimen for Group I (for All Candidates)

This group of specimen is meant to be used by every WAEC candidates writing biology.

Specimen A – Cervical Vertebra of a mammal
Specimen B – Thoracic Vertebra of a mammal
Specimen C – Lumbar Vertebra of a mammal
For Specimens D, E F, and G, you are requested to get four 250ml beakers and Label them D, E F, and G.
– Put dry garden soil into each beaker, up to 100ml level
– Add 10ml of water to the soil in each of beakers D, E, and f.
– Oven dries the garden soil in beaker G and leaves dry throughout the period of the experiment.
– For Specimen D, put five viable bean seeds into the soil in the beaker labeled D.
– For specimen E, soak five viable beam seeds in water for 2-3 hours, then remove the testa of the soaked bean seeds. Spilled open the cotyledon into the soil in the beaker labeled E.
– For specimen F, place five bean seeds into the soil in the beaker labeled F and add some quantity of kerosene enough to cover the surface of the soil in the beaker.
– For specimen G, add five dry and viable bean seeds into the soil in the beaker labeled G.

– Place all the beakers in a place with adequate sunlight for seven days
– Moisten the soils in each of the beakers labeled D and E with 5ml of water daily for seven days before the examination.

2023 WAEC Specimen for Group II (For candidates in Ghana only)

• Specimen H – Cactus plant (freshly obtained)
• Specimen J – Onion plant (with leaves)
• Specimen K – Green grass (freshly obtained)

2023 WAEC Biology Specimen Group III (For candidates in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Liberia only)

• Specimen L – Adult mosquito (freshly obtained)
• Specimen M – Butterfly (freshly obtained)
• Specimen N – Sugar ant (freshly obtained)

NB:
(i) All specimens can be provided as group specimens for five (5) to ten (10) candidates
(ii) All specimens in each group must carry individual labels (e.g. A, B, C, D, E, F, and G in Group I).

(b) It is essential that each candidate should be provided with the following materials:
(i) glass jar cover or Petri dish;
(ii) four white tiles labelled D, E, F and G;
(iii) spatula (four);
(iv) a hand lens/magnifying lens;
(v) scalpel/razor blade/knife;
(vi) a pair of forceps.

See Also: How to Check WAEC Result

2023 Biology Practical Report Form

1. Report Forms are provided separately on which you are required to:

(a) Supply the necessary information about the specimens;
(b) report on any difficulty in the conduct of the examination;
(c) report any particular difficulty experienced by any candidate during the conduct of the examination, especially if the examiner would be unable to discover this from the scripts;
(d) carry out and record experimental observations as directed in the Report Form.
(e) You must enclose a completed Report Form in each envelope of the script.

2023 WAEC Biology Practical Questions – Paper 3 (Practical)

Question 1: Study specimens A, B, C, and D and use them to answer the questions that follow.
(a) (i) Name the phylum to which specimen D belongs.
(ii) Name the habitat of specimen D
(iii) Name the type of reproduction common to specimens D.
(b) (i) 
(c) State three observable similarities between specimens C and D.

Question 2: Study specimens G and H and answer questions 2(a) to 2(f)
(a) (i) Name the floral parts of specimen H.
(ii) Indicate the number of floral parts in each whorl of specimen H.
(b)(i) Name the sex of specimen H.
(ii) Give one reason for the answer in 2(b)(i)
(c) (i) What is the symmetry of specimen H?
(ii) Give one reason for the answer in 2(c)(i)
(d) Name one pollinating agent of each of specimens G and H.
(e) State four observable differences between specimens G and H.
(f) Make a drawing 8 cm – 10 cm long of the longitudinal section of specimen H and label fully.

Question 3: Study specimens E, F, and J carefully and use them to answer questions 3(a) to 3(d).
(a) Classify specimens E, F, and J according to the following criteria:
(i) agricultural classification;
(ii) life cycle.
(b) State two ways in which specimen J is important to human nutrition.
(c) With a scalpel or knife, make a cross-section of specimen E.
(i) What type of placentation is observed in the cut section of specimen E?
(ii) Name one example of a fruit with similar placentation as observed in the cut section of specimen E.
(iii) Make a drawing 10 cm – 12 cm long of the transverse section and label fully.
(d) Make a transverse section of specimen F and state:
(i) three observable differences;
(ii) three observable similarities between the transverse sections of specimens E and F.

Question 4: Study specimens P, Q, R, and S carefully and use them to answer questions 4(a) to 4(d).
(a) (i) 

2023 WAEC Practical Answers

Having seen the 2023 WAEC Biology Practical specimen and questions, it is time for me to show you how you would be able to get the correct answers to all the questions.

As a good student, you are expected to use your textbooks to start answering the given questions before the date of the practical examination.

If you need correct answers to the practical questions, always keep visiting and reloading this page.

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How WAEC Are Marked and Graded

WAEC practical, theories and objectives are scored and graded in different percentages respectively. At the end of the making, the cumulative scores for every candidate in each of the practical, theories and objectives are calculated together to get actual score of the candidate.

The percentages for biology practical, theories and objectives respectively are shown below:

Practical section – 35%

Objective section – 25%

Theory section – 40%

Total – 100%

WAEC Grading System

WAEC examination is graded in the scale 1 to 9 as shown below:

Scale	Grades	Percent %	Remarks
1	A1	75 – 100	Excellent
2	B2	70 74	Very Good
3	B3	65 – 69	Good
4	C4	60 – 64	Credit
5	C5	55 – 59	Credit
6	C6	50 – 54	Credit
7	D7	45 – 49	Pass
8	E8	40 – 44	Pass
9	F9	44 and below	Fail

I hope that you have found this article helpful. If you have any other questions or comments about 2023 WAEC Biology Practical Specimens, kindly make use of the comment section below this article.

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