NECO has been one of the foremost Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) in Nigeria, hundreds of thousands of students sit each year to write NECO, and this year is no different. The anticipation surrounding the NECO exams has been on since around March this year when registrations were open.
It is now only a few days until the exam is starting, the exam is going to begin on the 5th of July 2021, and it will end on the 16th of August. If you don’t already have the NECO timetable it is high time you get it, it is widely available for free online.
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During the NECO 2021 exam, students are allowed to carry calculators and appropriate school accessories into the exam hall, and are expected to behave themselves and follow all the rules set out by NECO. Failure to follow these rules can get a student suspended from the exams or even land them in trouble with the law.
They are often the usual exam rules like no cheating or no talking during exams, but it doesn’t hurt to cross-check the particulars for the NECO 2021 exam’s rules, sometimes it is written on the answer booklet and sometimes students are told the exam rules before the exam starts.
NECO 2021 will consist of over 70 subjects and will take place for a period of about six weeks. Students should be prepared to spend the whole time studying and revising their books because it will help them pass NECO.
Revising what you have learned is a good exercise for the brain to remember lessons, topics, notes and everything in between, it will enable you to grasp a better understanding of what you learned all these years in secondary school, and will help you retain the knowledge over time.
Other preparations include staying updated with NECO news, because exam dates can be moved and other minor changes can occur, so staying up-to-date will help you to not miss out on anything and will help inform your decisions. You should also not forget to rest up every day because stress is a serious factor that affects students’ performance during exams.
If you stress out too much over the NECO exams, you may end up getting burned up before actually writing anything, so be easy on yourself. Always get ample rest especially by sleeping early, it’s good for the health.
Back to the issue of studying for the exams, NECO 2021 exams will most likely include a lot of past questions from previous NECO exams. NECO, WAEC, NABTEB, JAMB, they are all known to repeat past questions in their exams, some adding questions that are as far back as from ten years ago.
So it is wise to also practice and revise with some ‘Past Questions and Answers’. They are of great value when preparing for the examinations.
The National Examination Council (NECO) was established in 1999 by a past military regime of Nigeria. It was during the time of the Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar. According to the NECO website, the plan to have a national body for exams has been in the works for over a decade before Abdulsalami’s regime, but it gained fruition in 1999.
The National Examinations Council (NECO) is responsible for conducting Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE), along with that, it also conducts the GCE or General Certificate in Education, and it conducts the common entrance exams for primary school students about to leave for junior secondary school.
But it was most famous for the SSCE, that most often when people say ‘Neco’ they are usually referring to the Neco SSCE exams and not the council itself.
Why was it established? It was established because WAEC at the time was under immense pressure conducting the Senior Secondary Certificate Exams to all Nigerian students, it was the only exam body responsible for such an immense task and the government noticed it was lacking in facilities and manpower, hence its ability to satisfy all Nigerian students were getting affected, so NECO was established.
Firstly, it was to ease the burden on WAEC, and to provide Nigerians with a subsidized version of the SSCE exams. NECO was designed to have the best exam facilities and to provide quality service for Nigerian students who are sitting for the examinations.
It was the first national exam body meant for SSCE in Nigeria. It has since expanded its staff and network since its establishment in 1999, it has several zonal offices and has branches in all states in Nigeria.