WAEC Syllabus for Forestry & Textbooks 2024/2025

The WAEC syllabus for Forestry is the topic you must study to sit for the examination. It contains the aims and objectives, notes and format for the Forestry exam.

Studying the Forestry syllabus is necessary for your exam preparation. It will serve as a guide for you to know the topics to read. There are also notes on concepts you should pay attention to learning.

Exam preparations without using the Forestry syllabus are like going to the farm without your agricultural tools. You will end up not being productive.

Ensure you begin your exam preparations using the syllabus.

This post contains the Forestry syllabus and recommended textbooks of the West African Examination Council (WAEC).

WAEC Forestry

The Senior High School Forestry Syllabus has been structured to assess candidates’ knowledge of forestry and forest conservation.

It will also assess candidates’ knowledge and skills in forestry practices that will form the basis for sound tertiary education in forestry and also make them employable in the forestry industry and related disciplines.

Aims of the Syllabus

The syllabus will seek, among others, to assess candidates’

  1. appreciation of the importance of forests to life;
  2. knowledge and skills in current forestry practices;
  3. understanding of the effects of population growth on forests;
  4. understanding of the causes and effects of forest degradation;
  5. understanding of the regulations governing the use of the forests and forest resources;
  6. knowledge of the functions of forestry sector institutions;
  7. basic skills in establishing and managing forest plantations;
  8. ability to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of forests.

Requirements

  1. Schools offering Forestry are expected to keep demonstration plots where a variety of both indigenous and exotic forest trees are grown and maintained to develop their skills in the management of forest stands.
  2. It is recommended that students of the subject should visit forest reserves, national parks, zoos and forest plantations, forestry institutions and industries for experiential learning as part of their course work.
  3. It is also recommended that they will keep practical notebooks and specimen albums. These should contain records of activities based on laboratory, nursery and field observations to develop their documentation skills.

Examination Scheme

There will be three papers, Papers 1, 2 and 3 all of which must be taken. Papers 1 and 2 will be composite paper to be taken at one sitting.

PAPER 1: Will consist of fifty multiple-choice objective questions, all of which must be answered within 1 hour for 50 marks.

PAPER 2: Will consist of six essay-type questions.  Candidates will be required to answer four questions within 2 hours for 20 marks each.

PAPER 3: This will be a practical paper for school candidates or an alternative to a practical work test for private candidates.  It will consist of four questions all of which must be answered within 2hours for 60 marks.

Scope of Contents

Questions will be set on the topics listed in the column headed ‘content’.

The notes therein are intended to indicate the scope of the questions but are not to be considered as an exhaustive list of limitations and illustrations.

WAEC Forestry Syllabus

Section A

Introduction to Forestry

  1. Basic concepts of forest and forestry.
  2. Introduction to Forest Ecology.
    • Concept of forest Ecology.
    • Forest Ecosystem
    • Ecosystem functions
  3. Ecological Zones
    • Vegetation Zones
    • Factors Affecting Distribution of Vegetation.
    • Forest Types
      • Comparison of Forest Types.
      • Land-use Practices.
    • Major Forest Types in Relation to Latitudes.
  4. Introduction to Wildlife
    • Concept of Wildlife
    • Identification of Wildlife species
    • Importance of Wildlife
    • Endangered, Rare and Common Wildlife Species
    • Wildlife Reserves
    • Wildlife Management Practices
  5. Plant parts and Tree Identification
    • Plant Parts and Functions
    • Identification of Trees

Section B

Forest Estates

  1. Concept of Forest Estates
  2. Management of Forest Estates
  3. Current State of the Forest
  4. Protective Measures
  5. Deforestation
    • Forms and Causes
    • Effects of deforestation
    • Control of Deforestation
  6. Reforestation, Afforestation and Reafforestion.
  7. Natural Regeneration
    • Concept of natural regeneration
    • Factors influencing the choice of natural regeneration
    • Succession in natural regeneration
    • Intervention methods during natural regeneration
    • Other intervention measures
      • Agro-forestry
      • Taungya Practices
  8. Artificial Regeneration
  9. Invasive Alien species

Section C

Plantation Establishment and Forest Mensuration

  1. Plantation Development
    • Factors influencing plantation development
    • Plantation Planning and Design
  2. Nursery Establishment
    • Cultural Practices
    • Nursery Tools and Equipment
    • Nursery Pests and Diseases
    • Costing Nursery Establishment
  3. Planting and Tending
    • Land Preparation
    • Seedling Planting
    • Tending Operations
    • Operational Costs
  4. Forest Mensuration
    • Meaning, Importance and Purpose
    • Measuring Instruments and Equipment
    • Enumeration of Growing Stock and Sampling Methods.
    • Surveys

Section D

Harvesting and Marketing of Forest Resources

  1. Harvesting of Timber
    • Factors to consider/Pre-harvesting activities.
    • Procedures to follow
    • Log Markings
    • Harvesting, Extraction and Transportation Processes
    • Harvesting Equipment and Safety Measures
  2. Harvesting of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs)
  3. Uses of Harvested Forest Products
  4. Harvesting of Wildlife
  5. Harmful Wildlife Harvesting Practices.
  6. Marketing of Forest Products
    • Classification of forest products
    • Contribution of forest products to the national economy
    • Demand for forest products
      • Factors affecting demand for forest products
      • Types of forest products demanded by the local market and foreign market
      • Differences in demand for products
      • Social-economic Socio-economic benefits and effects of demand for product
  7. Marketing Agencies and their functions
  8. Forest Industries
    • Timber Industries and Timber Products.
    • Career and Training Opportunities
  9. Establishing enterprises in forestry

Section E

Forestry Sector Structures

  1. Policy-making, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation.
  2. Training and Research
  3. Rights to Forest Resources
    • Types of Rights
    • Acquisition of Rights
    • Violation of Rights
  4. Role of Stakeholders
  5. Land Tenure Systems
    • Types of Land Tenure Systems
    • Role of Stools, Skins and Central Government in Land Ownership
    • Land Registration
    • Impact of Land Tenure on Land use.
  6. Forest Policy and Law

Section F

Income Generation Ventures

  1. Cultivation of Mushroom
    • Importance and uses of mushroom
    • Biology of mushroom
      • Classification of fungi
      • Poisonous and Non-poisonous mushroom/Commercial and Non-commercial Mushroom
      • Commonly cultivated mushroom in West Africa
      • Nutrition of mushroom
      • The life cycle of mushroom
      • Methods of mushroom cultivation
      • Production practices
      • Harvesting of mushroom
      • Post-harvest handling
  2. Beekeeping
    • Importance o beekeeping
    • Apiary establishment
    • Members of the honey bee colony and their roles
    • Management of an apiary-routine practices and precautions
    • Maturity of colony, harvesting and processing.
    • Marketing of honey and other products

Practical Syllabus

  1. Introduction to Wildlife and Plant Identification.
  2. Tools, Equipment and Machinery
  3. Nursery practices
  4. Plantation Establishment: Land preparation
  5. Forest Mensuration
  6. Harvesting of Forest Resources
  7. Methods of Harvesting Timber
  8. Methods of Harvesting Non-timber Forest Products (Plants and animals)
  9. Processing of Forest Resources
    • Timber
    • Non-Timber Forest Products
    • Income Generating Ventures
      • Mushroom Cultivation
      • Beekeeping
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