General Mathematics Paper 2, WASSCE (SC), 2016

Question 8

Observation

The Chief Examiner reported that this question was attempted by majority of the candidates and they performed poorly in it.  Candidates’ performance was even worse in part (b) where majority of them were reported not to get the second equation correct. 

 

In part (a), majority of the candidates were expected to recall the theorem which states that the exterior angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of the two interior opposite angles.  Applying this theorem, ∠JKM =   Similarly, ∠JKM + ⥾ = 110o i.e.  + y + ⥾ = 110o.  Since 2 ⥾ = y, it implied that  = 110o i.e. 5 = 110o. Therefore,  = 22o. 

 

In part (b), while some of the candidates were reportedly able to get the first equation correct,  where   = Amount collected by the boys and y = Amount collected by the girls, they were unable to obtain the second equation,    --   =  100 or 12 = 12000.  Solving these two equations simultaneously gave
N 3, 000.00 and y = N 2, 400.00.  Hence, the total amount collected by the two groups was  N 3, 000.00 + N 2, 400.00 = N5,400.00.  Some candidates were reported not to get the accuracy mark because they did not write the correct unit and decimal   places.