Every year parents ask us the same question: when do BECE and WASSCE start? The honest answer is that both exams follow a predictable pattern, but the exact dates come from WAEC and the Ghana Education Service, not from rumours in a WhatsApp group.
BECE: usually June
The Basic Education Certificate Examination is written by final-year JHS students. It is normally held in June, and the papers run across roughly a week of morning and afternoon sessions.
WAEC and GES publish the official timetable a few months before the exam. Schools receive it first, and it is then shared on the WAEC Ghana website and the candidates' portal.
WASSCE: usually August into October
The West African Senior School Certificate Examination for school candidates normally starts in August and continues through September, sometimes into early October for the final papers.
Practical and oral papers often come before the written papers, so science and language students should expect their first sessions earlier than the timetable's written-paper dates suggest.
Confirm the official dates
Exam calendars move. Public holidays, election years and system changes have shifted dates before, and every year social media circulates timetables that turn out to be last year's.
Before you book travel, plan a family event or pay for an intensive revision programme:
- Check the WAEC Ghana website and your school's notice board.
- Confirm the timetable with the class teacher or exams officer.
- Treat forwarded images of timetables as unconfirmed until WAEC publishes them.
Dates change from year to year. Always confirm with WAEC Ghana before planning around them.
How to plan revision around the timetable
Once the official timetable is out, work backwards:
- Twelve weeks before — list every subject and paper, then mark which topics are still weak.
- Eight weeks before — move to past questions, one paper per week under timed conditions.
- Four weeks before — practise the exact session times. If a paper is at 8am, study at 8am.
- Two weeks before — stop learning new topics. Consolidate, review mistakes and protect sleep.
- Exam week — one short review session per paper, then rest. Cramming the night before rarely helps.
For practical subjects, keep practising the apparatus and procedures early rather than reading about them late.
How our tutors help
A tutor who knows the syllabus can turn a timetable into a week-by-week plan, spot the topics your child keeps avoiding and keep the pace steady when school work gets heavy.
Book a free assessment and we will review recent school work, identify the gaps and recommend a plan that fits the exam dates.
