In Ghana, past questions have become a common learning resource in preparing learners for examinations such as the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
While their use is widespread, their overuse is raising concerns about whether learners are truly learning or merely memorising answers.
Purpose of past questions
Effective teaching and learning require the right materials. Without them, classrooms can become disorganised and challenging for both teachers and learners.
Past questions are examination papers from previous years.
They are among the tools learners use to prepare for upcoming assessments.
They are meant to help them identify topics they do not fully understand and strengthen their knowledge accordingly.
With the guidance of teachers, working through these questions also gives learners an idea of the format that future examination questions may take.
This equips them to develop alternative strategies for solving problems.
Additionally, Chief Examiners’ reports, based on learners’ past performance, provide valuable insights that guide effective teaching and learning.
In recent years, these materials have become increasingly popular.
Many learners preparing for final examinations now seem to depend heavily on them.
This raises an important question: are past questions truly helping students learn effectively?
One of the strongest critics is Sam Jonah, Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast.
He warned that giving students past papers might make them rely too much on memorising answers instead of understanding the subject.
“We ought to be troubled by the government’s decision to institutionalise the purchase of past examination papers for students. It sets a worrying precedent,” he said.
“Regrettably, this decision formalises our reliance on rote learning at the expense of comprehension and innovative thinking. We risk training students to replicate and recite, rather than to understand, innovate, and produce. In doing so, we lower the standards of our children’s education” (Graphic Online, 2024).
Exam experience
Many years ago, in basic school, past questions helped my peers and i do well in mock exams because some of our practice tests were copied from them.
During one test, we finished quickly and got all answers right. Our teacher was amazed.
At the time, it felt like a great achievement.
But this success did not help in our final exam, the BECE.
We thought some questions we had practised would appear.
When the exam papers came, none of the familiar questions were there. Suddenly, we realised we were not prepared.
I also remember another time: a teacher wrote questions on the board, and I finished first.
The teacher was impressed. Later, I understood that my good result was not because I understood the topic, but because I remembered answers from before.
That taught me a lasting lesson: memorising answers is not the same as understanding.
Today, past questions are everywhere in schools, and some people even make money from selling them.
The worrying part is that learners depend on these questions too much.
In some classes, past questions have replaced real learning.
Like me, some of them think they cannot pass exams like the BECE or WASSCE without using past questions.
Fear and dependency
Learners often feel nervous and scared of failing, even when they study hard. Past questions seem to help reduce this fear.
On the surface, this makes sense. But deep down, they worry: what if these same questions do not appear in the exam?
Because of this, learners use past questions out of fear, not confidence. When questions they know do not appear, their stress increases.
Anxiety is not reduced; it becomes worse. Instead of learning properly, they get trapped in fear and repetition.
In some extreme cases, this dependence has led to frustration and anger.
Some learners became so convinced that questions from the past papers provided to them would appear in the WASSCE that, when they did not, they felt misled.
A few even expressed outrage to the extent of blaming authorities and vowing not to vote for a sitting government.
In a statement, the then GES Director-General Prof. Opoku Amankwah said that ‘past questions do not mean that you have to copy dito dito what is in the past questions.
It prepares you, gives you an idea of the things that are likely to come and the pattern of certain questions and how to answer them’. (GhanaWeb, August, 2020).
Thus, instead of building confidence, overreliance on past questions can trap learners in a cycle of fear and uncertainty.
Deeper impact
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the government bought 568,755 past question booklets to help students prepare for the WASSCE.
Later, an extra 146,954 booklets were bought through the Free SHS budget (MyJoyOnline, 2021).
Past questions can be useful for revision, but if students rely on them too much, they can be misled.
Some learners treat them like a lottery, hoping the same questions appear again. Research supports this concern.
A 2025 study by Boso P. E. on rote learning and student performance in Ghana found that too much drilling of past questions contributes to poor WASSCE results.
Learners now seem to use pattern learning, trying to predict questions by looking at trends in past papers.
While this can help them recognise exam formats, it stops them from understanding concepts deeply.
Instead of thinking critically, learners simply memorise patterns.
Beyond memorisation
Past questions should help learners revise, not replace real learning.
When they dominate lessons, learners may remember answers but struggle when questions are new or different.
Teachers should teach learners to understand ideas, think critically, and be creative.
Learners should use past questions as guides, not shortcuts.
Education should not just teach learners to repeat answers.
It should help them think for themselves, solve problems, and apply knowledge in real life.
When learners move from memorising to understanding, they are better prepared not only for exams, but for life.
I believe in outputs, outcomes, and impact but just as importantly, I believe in the process.
When success is achieved through shortcuts or overdependence on past questions, true learning is compromised.
The writer Henry Atta Nyame is an Institutional Assessment Practitioner
hattanyame@gmail.com
