When WASSCE or BECE results are released, you check them online through the West African Examinations Council, and the one thing you cannot do it without is your scratch card, or the equivalent checker code. Buy the card, go to the WAEC results site, enter your details and the PIN, and your results come up. Here is the process and the mistakes that lock people out.
What you need first
To check results online you need three things: your index number, your year and type of exam, and a results checker PIN. The index number is on your exam registration and your admission notice. The PIN comes from a WAEC results checker card, sold as a scratch card or as an e-voucher.
Buy the card from a genuine seller. Cards are sold at approved outlets and through some networks, and buying from a stranger online risks a used or fake PIN. One card gives a limited number of checks, so do not waste your tries.
How to check
Go to the official WAEC results website for Ghana. Choose the exam, WASSCE or BECE, and the year and sitting. Enter your index number, select your exam month, and enter the serial number and PIN from your card. Submit, and your results load.
Print or screenshot the result once it shows, because a card allows only so many checks and you do not want to spend another one to see the same page again.
If it will not load
A few things go wrong. A wrong index number returns nothing, so check it digit by digit against your registration. A used PIN fails, which is the risk of a card bought from an untrusted seller. And on results day the site can be slow or down from the rush, so if it will not load, wait and try again later rather than burning your checks on a jammed server. [CONFIRM: the WAEC support or contact route for result problems.]
Reading your result and what comes next
For WASSCE, grades run from A1 down, and the grades you need depend on where you are applying next, since universities and programmes set their own cut-offs. For BECE, the aggregate decides your senior high school placement through the schools selection system.
If a result looks wrong, WAEC has a process for a review or remark, which you apply and pay for within a set window. Note the deadline, because once it passes the result stands.
A note on scams
Around results season, pages and messages promise to check results for free, or to change a grade for a fee. WAEC does not do either. The only place to check is the official WAEC site with a genuine card, and no one can alter a real result for money. Anyone offering that is taking your money for nothing.
