Section A: Essay Writing
Answer one question only from this section. All questions carry equal marks. Your answer should not be less than 450 words.
You are advised to spend about 50 minutes on this section.
Section B: Comprehension
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
When Bademosi heard that he had some visitors from Ireti, his hometown, he concluded immediately that they must be the usual seekers of financial assistance, or jobs. He decided that this time, he would give them the rough edge of his tongue. They had come because earlier callers had not reported what had stressed: that he was not in Kapitatown for anyone’s sake.
He took his time to put his office and workshop in order, determined not to leave in a hurry just because of some stubborn fortune-seekers. He made sure that all his seventy-two workers had signed out before he signaled to his driver.
There, in the huge limousine, he thought of the new multi-million dollar contract for his construction company and how he would get a helicopter from the profit. That would be the ultimate solution to the persistent problem of the traffic congestion which he faced in Kapitatown.
The five-kilometre distance to his mansion was covered in about two hours. On arrival, his youngest wife informed him that his visitors were chiefs from Ireti. He felt a revulsion as he imagined that they must have come with a king-size request. As he entered the house, he steeled his mind.
However, the three chiefs disarmed him with their cheerful smiles. Each met him in the doorway with a bear hug. As soon as the chit-chat ended, they announced that the Ireti ruling council had decided to confer on him the highest traditional title of the land, and that a date had been set for the great event. He was flabbergasted; so they had come with an offer. He immediately accepted.
Thereafter, things moved very fast. He contacted all the great names in the country, among them his state governor, the top politicians in the land and his business associates from far and near. However, he did not even pay a preparatory visit to Ireti. He took everything for granted.
The great day came. Hundreds of limousines from far and near streamed into Ireti. As he was not the only awardee, the conferment ceremony began with the others. Each took about fifteen minutes; so before Bademosi’s turn, all his invited guests had arrived. Just as he was called, some heavily-built youngsters appeared. Shouting into the microphone, their leader announced, “Bademosi doesn’t deserve this conferment and cannot have the title. A man who has deserted his community for more than thirty years, who did not think it proper to return home to care for his ailing parents before they died, and who has consistently turned deaf ears to the calls of our youths, cannot have the title. Good day, everybody!”
With that, the youths continued to appear in their hundreds, angry and fierce, wielding all forms of weapons, warning everybody to disappear immediately, otherwise heads would roll, including theirs if the police wanted it so. Within minutes, the whole arena was deserted.
Questions on Comprehension Passage One
2012 WAEC English Theory Second Comprehension Passage
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Part of my one-year study program in Britain involved visiting several places of historical importance, especially those related to precolonial African history on which I was researching. One was the home of William Wilberforce, the 19th century anti-slave trade statesman.
The house had been turned into a museum one of the several organizations that fought the scourge. Among the most outstanding features of the museum were the several statues of slaves in different postures: black slaves being captured in their naive homes, being chained together, being led to the port for sale, on the slave ship and being forced to work on plantations. The sculptures were particularly remarkable in that they illustrated very movingly the bane which Wilberforce threw himself against.
As a black man, I could not help shedding tears when going from room to room on the two floors. Then, there was a period of pandemonium which I, unwittingly, caused. I was on the first floor, about to cross the lobby, when I came face to face with another visitor, a white man. When he saw me, a wave of fright swept through him. His eyes were immediately bloodshot. He shouted out of fright and ran back. Quickly, he made for the staircase, sped down to the ground floor, and took to his heels.
All this while, I remained still, at a loss as to the cause of his action. He stopped shouting only when he got into the bus that brought his group. Meanwhile, others around him, realizing the cause of his fright, came to tell me that I was the cause. They laughed it off when they told me that he had thought I was one of the statues and had suddenly turned into a human being.
I discovered the reason for his fright when I entered the room which he had just left and found that one of the statues looked exactly like me. Whoever did the wax model perhaps had my picture. It was my height, my shape, my complexion, indeed the exact replica of me.
I realized what had happened I was the only black present in the building. The man had not expected a live black person to be in the museum. Thus, the sudden sight of a black person moving around, with the stature and face of one of the statues, should certainly frighten him. I wondered what could have happened if I had pursued him down the staircase.
Questions on Comprehension Passage Two
Section C: Summary
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
The number of people living in slums worldwide is estimated to be more than a billion. Experts in urbanization fear that the ever-growing slums in the world will soon become more populous than the cities.
Findings like these, however, do not., show clearly the devastating effect which substandard living conditions have on the poor. The situation is more serious in developing countries, where many people lack basic amenities, adequate housing and modem health care services.
It is an irony that while some of the richest nations want to build colonies on the moon and explore Mars, growing numbers of their poorest citizens cannot afford a decent place to live here on earth. It might be easy to conclude that the poor could remedy their situation if they showed more initiative, but factors involved in the housing crisis are beyond their control. The world’s population is increasing at an alarming rate, such that millions of houses are needed to keep pace with this development.
It is a fact that cities provide more facilities than the rural areas. It is easier to get electricity and good water supply, pursue one’s education and secure well-paid jobs in cities than villages. Very often those in the villages hanker for such opportunities. One cannot therefore, blame them when they seize the first opportunity to reside in the cities. They do not mind going away from the villages to reside in congested cities, thereby contributing to over-population in the cities.
In troubled areas of the world, political disasters, civil wars and suicide bombing are common. Poor people, women and children run away from such troubled areas to preserve their lives. They seek refuge in whatever shelter they can find when existing buildings are completely destroyed. The relationship between housing and poverty cannot be ignored. People who cannot afford basic necessities as food and clothing may not be able to rent or build decent houses. These and other factors have forced millions of people to settle for substandard housing. They live in abandoned buses, shipping containers, cardboard boxes other unthinkable places
The housing problems, just like many other problems facing the world, should be tackled with urgency. However, the cost of land for the erection of houses is high. Even when land is secured, the high cost of building materials is another problem to contend with. One must not therefore blame building agencies which employ methods that enable them to build inexpensive houses.
Questions on Section C: Summary
Congratulations!
Well done on completing the 2012 WAEC English Language Theory questions, aka Paper 2.
Don’t stop now! Continue testing yourself with past WAEC questions on letter writing and comprehension.
You can also take a quiz with questions from the 2012 WAEC English Language Objective paper, that is Paper 1.
Good luck !