How many hours is a WAEC practical examination in 2024?

The WAEC practical examination is one of the aspects of the WAEC examination, that works critically with time, hence the questions that come in many forms: What is the time for WAEC practical examinations? How many hours is a WAEC practical examination?

WAEC practical exam is not a part of every subject that is offered in WAEC but only in some science-inclined subjects. 

The WAEC practical examination is a session where students are expected to replicate a series of experiments they have tried in normal classes, or be given new parameters to carry out experiments and solve them (this applies to subjects involving calculation).

The WAEC practical examination time is set through the WAEC timetable. The WAEC timetable is a WAEC document, which shows the time for every activity or examination, that will be done in the timeframe of the WAEC examination.

The WAEC examination timetable shows which day the examination will start, which day it will end, the day for WAEC practicals, and for every subject that is being offered in WAEC, notwithstanding how many persons are sitting for it. So when next someone asks you “How many hours is a WAEC practical examination?”, just refer them to the WAEC timetable.

According to the WAEC examination timetable for 2024, the WAEC examination starts officially on Monday 6 May, 2024 and will end on Friday 21 June, 2024.

WAEC practical examination

As mentioned earlier in this article, not every subject that is offered in JAMB has a practical session. Some subjects like English, mathematics, economics, and Commerce doesn’t have practical sessions.  The subjects that have practical sessions are predominantly science subjects, and they include major science subjects like:

1. Biology
2. Physics
3. Chemistry
4. Agricultural science
5. Geography
6. Food and nutrition.

How many hours is a WAEC practical examination in 2024?

The time for the WAEC examination varies from subject to subject. In 2024, the time stipulated for each practical subject differs; the different practicals and the scheduled hours are listed below:

1. Animal husbandry practical => 1hr 30mins.
2. Fisheries => 1hr 30mins
3. Catering craft practices => 40mins (ATP)
4. Agricultural science=> 1hr 30mins.
5. Geography=> 1hr 50mins.
6. Chemistry practical=> 2 hours.
7. Biology practical=> 2 hours.
8. Physics practical=> 2 hours.
9. Block laying, bricklaying, and concrete works => 3 hours.
10. Dyeing and bleaching => 5 hours, 30 mins.

This list above shows a cross-section of subjects in WAEC that features practical sessions; the time given for the practicals shows that the least time for any practical in WAEC (for Nigerian candidates) is 30 minutes, and the highest time to be allocated to any WAEC practical session is 6 hours.

NB: ATP in the list above means an Alternative to Practical.

Frequently asked questions about WAEC practical examination

The WAEC practical examination is a vital part of the examination schedule and an avenue for students to roll in marks.

Any serious student should know the answer to this seemingly common question: ‘How many hours is a WAEC practical examination?’ As it is contained in the WAEC official timetable, or you can get it here too.

The WAEC practical session is an interactive examination session that is aimed at testing the students’ skills in the laboratory, and giving marks for the tasks performed, results gotten, and inferences from the results that were gotten.

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