36-Week WAEC Revision Programme — Food and Nutrition
September to the May WAEC sitting. SS3 is not a year of new material so much as a year of pressure on material already met, so this is not a course to work through from the beginning — it is a testing programme. Each week you answer cold, work the ones you got wrong, and have the AI explain why you got them wrong. Anything you turn out never to have been taught, you learn there and then, and meet again three weeks later.
A week is one block of the syllabus and the prompts that cover it. You are not meant to do all of them: answer the questions first, and let what you get wrong decide which of the rest you need. Fifteen or twenty minutes a subject is a real week's work — nine subjects do not fit any other way.
Every week, in this order
Start with the questions, not the explanation. The first two steps are in every week; a purpose-written mistake or pitfalls prompt appears in about half of them, and where it does not, your own wrong answers are the material for step three.
- 1. Retrieve — Answer cold, with nothing in front of you. Wrong answers are the point — they show you where the week's work is.
- 2. Drill — Work the ones you missed properly, showing every step, so you and the AI can both see where it went wrong.
- 3. Explain my error — Ask why your answer was wrong, not just what the right one is. Where the week offers a Spot My Mistake or WAEC Pitfalls prompt, use it.
- 4. Teach me — Only if the error turns out to be something you were never taught. Then come back and retrieve it again.
Food, Nutrients and Metabolism
↑ Jump to week- Week 1
- Quiz: Malnutrition, and the forms both under- and over-nutrition take
- WAEC prep: The relationship between food and nutrition and other school subjects
- Spot my mistake: Confusing a balanced diet with simply eating a large meal
- Let me explain: Why the study of food and nutrition matters to a nation's health
- Teach me: The difference between food, nutrition and a nutrient
- Week 2
- Quiz: Proteins, and the difference between first and second class protein
- WAEC prep: Vitamins, the deficiency diseases each one prevents, and their sources
- Practice set: Mineral elements, water and roughage in the diet
- Spot my mistake: Assuming any food that supplies protein is supplying first class protein
- Let me explain: Fats and oils, their sources and their functions in the body
- Teach me: Carbohydrates: their classes, sources and functions
- Week 3
- Quiz: Basal metabolic rate and the factors that change it
- WAEC prep: The test for starch and the test for reducing sugar
- Practice set: The test for protein and the test for fat
- Spot my mistake: Assuming every sugar gives a positive result with Benedict's solution
- Let me explain: Energy value of food and how it is measured in kilocalories
- Teach me: What metabolism means, and anabolism against catabolism
Meal Planning and Special Diets
↑ Jump to week- Week 4
- Quiz: The factors to consider when planning a family meal
- Quiz: The nutritional needs of adolescents
- WAEC prep: Meal planning for a family with children of different ages
- Practice set: Drawing up a day's menu and costing it
- Teach me: The nutritional needs of infants and weaning practice
- WAEC prep: The nutritional needs of a convalescent
- Spot my mistake: Treating a large meal as a balanced one because it satisfies hunger
- Spot my mistake: Assuming a manual worker and an office worker need the same diet
- Let me explain: Planning meals on a limited budget
- Let me explain: The nutritional needs of the elderly
- Teach me: What a balanced meal is and how the food groups combine in one
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 5
- Quiz: Planning meals for someone who is obese
- WAEC prep: Planning meals for a patient with kwashiorkor
- Practice set: Planning meals for a person with a fever
- Spot my mistake: Treating weight reduction as a matter of starving the patient rather than of a reduced but balanced diet
- Let me explain: Planning meals for an ulcer patient
- Teach me: Planning meals for an anaemic patient
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 6
- Quiz: The work triangle and why it governs kitchen planning
- WAEC prep: The factors to consider when siting a kitchen
- Practice set: Planning a kitchen for a small Nigerian household
- Spot my mistake: Planning a kitchen with the sink, cooker and store set far apart to leave more working space
- Let me explain: Ventilation and lighting in kitchen design
- Teach me: The types of kitchen layout and what suits each home
Revisit from three weeks ago
The Kitchen, Safety and Hygiene
↑ Jump to week- Week 7
- Quiz: Large kitchen equipment and the power it needs
- WAEC prep: Labour-saving devices and what they contribute
- Practice set: Choosing equipment on a limited budget
- Spot my mistake: Assuming a labour-saving device is economical for every household whatever work it does
- Let me explain: The materials kitchen equipment is made from, and their merits
- Teach me: Small kitchen tools and the job each one does
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 8
- Quiz: Preventing burns and scalds in the kitchen
- Quiz: Kitchen refuse disposal and pest control
- WAEC prep: Fire safety and the handling of gas cylinders
- WAEC prep: The sanitary care of the kitchen and its surfaces
- Practice set: A daily and weekly kitchen cleaning routine
- Spot my mistake: Assuming that only carelessness causes kitchen accidents
- Spot my mistake: Washing greasy pots before glassware when washing up by hand
- Let me explain: First aid for cuts and for burns
- Let me explain: Washing up and the correct order of doing it
- Teach me: The common causes of kitchen accidents
- Teach me: Personal hygiene for anyone who handles food
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 9
- Quiz: Fish, its classes and how to judge freshness
- WAEC prep: Milk and milk products, and their nutritive value
- Practice set: Choosing and buying animal products in a Nigerian market
- Spot my mistake: Judging a fish fresh by its smell alone without looking at the eyes and gills
- Let me explain: Eggs, their structure and their uses in cookery
- Teach me: Meat: its structure, cuts and nutritive value
Revisit from three weeks ago
Food Commodities and Their Value
↑ Jump to week- Week 10
- Quiz: The common cereals grown in Nigeria and their uses
- Quiz: The nutritive value of fruits and vegetables
- WAEC prep: Oily seeds such as groundnut, melon and beniseed
- WAEC prep: The selection and storage of fresh fruits and vegetables
- Practice set: Using seasonal Nigerian fruits and vegetables in meals
- Spot my mistake: The effect of over-milling on the nutrients in a grain
- Spot my mistake: Soaking cut vegetables in water for a long time before cooking them
- Let me explain: Legumes and the protein they supply
- Let me explain: Preventing nutrient loss when preparing vegetables
- Teach me: The structure of a cereal grain and where its nutrients sit
- Teach me: Classifying fruits and vegetables by the part of the plant eaten
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 11
- Quiz: Rancidity, and how fats and oils should be stored
- WAEC prep: Plantain, its varieties and the dishes made from it
- Practice set: Preparing root crops so their nutrients are retained
- Spot my mistake: Assuming an oil that looks unchanged cannot have gone rancid
- Let me explain: Starchy roots and tubers grown in Nigeria and their food value
- Teach me: Sources of fats and oils, animal and vegetable
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 12
- Quiz: Micro-organisms responsible for food spoilage
- Quiz: Preservation by drying and by smoking
- WAEC prep: The conditions that speed up spoilage
- WAEC prep: Preservation by canning, bottling and the use of chemicals
- Practice set: Storing different classes of food correctly at home
- Spot my mistake: Assuming that food which looks and smells fine is always safe
- Spot my mistake: Assuming refrigeration kills the micro-organisms in food
- Let me explain: Enzymic and chemical causes of spoilage
- Let me explain: Preservation by the use of low temperature
- Teach me: What food spoilage is and the signs of it
- Teach me: Why food is preserved and the principles behind every method
Revisit from three weeks ago
Preservation, Cooking and Additives
↑ Jump to week- Week 13
- Quiz: Boiling, stewing and steaming as moist heat methods
- WAEC prep: The effect of each cooking method on the nutrients in food
- Practice set: Choosing the right cooking method for a given food
- Spot my mistake: Assuming boiling is the method that best preserves the vitamins in a vegetable
- Let me explain: Frying, roasting, grilling and baking as dry heat methods
- Teach me: The reasons food is cooked at all
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 14
- Quiz: Cooking terms such as blanching, basting and marinating
- Quiz: The classes of food additive: colour, flavour and preservative
- WAEC prep: How heat transfer determines the utensil a cook chooses
- WAEC prep: The health effects of additives and of adulterated food
- Practice set: The role of NAFDAC in regulating what goes into food
- Spot my mistake: Confusing simmering with boiling
- Spot my mistake: Treating every food additive as an adulterant
- Let me explain: Terms such as au gratin, roux, garnish and accompaniment
- Let me explain: Food adulteration and the common ways it is done
- Teach me: Conduction, convection and radiation in cooking
- Teach me: What a food additive is and why it is used
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 15
- Quiz: Raising agents and how each one works
- WAEC prep: Doughs and the methods of mixing them
- Practice set: Faults in flour mixtures and what causes them
- Spot my mistake: Assuming baking powder and bicarbonate of soda may be swapped in the same quantity
- Let me explain: Batters, their consistencies and their uses
- Teach me: The types of flour and the gluten each contains
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 16
- Quiz: The common faults in cakes and their causes
- WAEC prep: The rules for making good pastry
- Practice set: Decorating and finishing a cake
- Spot my mistake: Assuming a cake that sinks in the middle was simply under-baked
- Let me explain: Yeast mixtures and the process of fermentation
- Teach me: The methods of cake making: rubbing-in, creaming and whisking
Revisit from three weeks ago
Flour Mixtures, Cakes and Beverages
↑ Jump to week- Week 17
- Quiz: Stimulating beverages such as tea, coffee and cocoa
- Quiz: The advantages and disadvantages of convenience foods
- WAEC prep: The preparation and serving of common beverages
- WAEC prep: Dishes that can be made from leftovers
- Practice set: Planning to use leftovers without waste
- Spot my mistake: Assuming every beverage contributes nutrients to the diet
- Spot my mistake: Reheating leftover food gently so that it is only warmed through
- Let me explain: Nourishing beverages and what makes them so
- Let me explain: The rules for reheating leftover food safely
- Teach me: The classification of beverages
- Teach me: What convenience foods are and the forms they come in
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 18
- Quiz: The duties of a host and of a guest
- WAEC prep: Costing and organising catering for an event
- Practice set: Preparing a traditional festive dish
- Spot my mistake: Costing a party menu by the price of the ingredients alone
- Let me explain: Types of party service: buffet, sit-down and cocktail
- Teach me: Planning a menu for a Nigerian festive occasion
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 19
- Quiz: Table appointments and what each is for
- WAEC prep: The rights and responsibilities of a food consumer
- Practice set: Reading and using food labels when shopping
- Spot my mistake: Laying the cutlery so that the diner works outwards from the plate
- Let me explain: Table manners and dining etiquette
- Teach me: Laying a table correctly for a given meal
Revisit from three weeks ago
Entertaining, Table Laying and Careers
↑ Jump to week- Week 20
- Quiz: Catering and food service as a career
- Quiz: Digestion in the small intestine and the enzymes involved
- WAEC prep: The qualifications each food-related career requires
- WAEC prep: The fate of absorbed nutrients in the body
- Practice set: The role of the liver in handling absorbed food
- Spot my mistake: Assuming food and nutrition leads only to cooking jobs
- Spot my mistake: Assuming protein digestion begins in the mouth alongside starch
- Let me explain: Food technology and food science as careers
- Let me explain: Absorption of nutrients through the villi
- Teach me: The career of a dietitian and where they work
- Teach me: Digestion in the mouth and the stomach
Revisit from three weeks ago
Digestion, Meal Patterns and Diet in Health
↑ Jump to week- Week 21
- Quiz: Benedict's test for reducing sugars
- Quiz: The principles that guide sound meal planning
- WAEC prep: The emulsion test and the grease spot test for fat
- WAEC prep: Planning meals around what is in season
- Practice set: Adapting a meal plan to a family's income
- Spot my mistake: Misreading a food test because of poor technique
- Spot my mistake: Treating variety in a meal as several dishes drawn from the same food group
- Let me explain: The Biuret test for protein
- Let me explain: Variety, colour and texture in a planned meal
- Teach me: The iodine test for starch and how to read it
- Teach me: The traditional Nigerian meal pattern through the day
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 22
- Quiz: Iron and folate in pregnancy, and why they matter
- WAEC prep: Foods to encourage and foods to limit in pregnancy
- Practice set: Planning a day's meals for a pregnant woman
- Spot my mistake: Treating pregnancy as a reason to eat twice the usual quantity of food
- Let me explain: The nutritional needs of a lactating mother
- Teach me: The extra nutrients a pregnant woman requires
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 23
- Quiz: Foods a diabetic should limit and why
- Quiz: First aid for a deep cut sustained while cooking
- WAEC prep: Planning a meal suitable for both conditions
- WAEC prep: Putting out an oil fire safely
- Practice set: Assembling a kitchen first aid box
- Spot my mistake: Assuming a diabetic must avoid carbohydrate altogether
- Spot my mistake: Pouring water on a pan of burning oil to put the fire out
- Let me explain: Salt, fat and the management of hypertension
- Let me explain: Dealing with an electric shock in the kitchen
- Teach me: How diet is used in managing diabetes
- Teach me: First aid for a scald from hot liquid
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 24
- Quiz: Abrasives and detergents, and where each is appropriate
- WAEC prep: The safe storage of cleaning agents in a home
- Practice set: Matching a cleaning agent to a kitchen surface
- Spot my mistake: Using an abrasive to clean a non-stick or enamel surface
- Let me explain: Disinfectants and their correct dilution
- Teach me: The classes of cleaning agent and what each removes
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 25
- Quiz: Caring for equipment made of aluminium and of cast iron
- Quiz: Food-borne diseases and the organisms that cause them
- WAEC prep: Storing equipment so that it lasts
- WAEC prep: Cross-contamination and how to prevent it
- Practice set: Safe handling of food from market to table
- Spot my mistake: The damage caused by using the wrong cleaning method
- Spot my mistake: Assuming food that looks and smells normal cannot cause food poisoning
- Let me explain: Caring for non-stick and for enamel surfaces
- Let me explain: Food poisoning: its symptoms and its prevention
- Teach me: What to look for when buying kitchen equipment
- Teach me: The rules of food hygiene in the home
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 26
- Quiz: Testing an egg for freshness and storing eggs
- WAEC prep: Storing meat and fish without refrigeration
- Practice set: Buying perishables wisely in a Nigerian market
- Spot my mistake: Treating the egg that floats in water as the fresher one
- Let me explain: Selecting good meat and identifying the cuts
- Teach me: Judging the freshness of milk and storing it
Revisit from three weeks ago
Hygiene, Commodities and Preservation
↑ Jump to week- Week 27
- Quiz: The protein content of legumes and its quality
- WAEC prep: Anti-nutritional factors in legumes and how cooking removes them
- Practice set: Preparing legume dishes to get the best nutritive value
- Spot my mistake: Assuming a legume supplies a complete protein on its own
- Let me explain: Why legumes are combined with cereals in a meal
- Teach me: The legumes commonly eaten in Nigeria
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 28
- Quiz: The effect of storage conditions on vitamin C
- Quiz: Cholesterol, and its link with heart disease
- WAEC prep: Storing leafy vegetables to limit wilting and loss
- WAEC prep: The recommended intake of fat in a daily diet
- Practice set: Choosing healthier cooking oils and methods
- Spot my mistake: The nutrient loss caused by cutting vegetables too early
- Spot my mistake: Assuming every vegetable oil is free of saturated fat
- Let me explain: Ripening, and how it can be slowed or hastened
- Let me explain: The effects of repeatedly reheating cooking oil
- Teach me: The structure of a fruit and where its nutrients lie
- Teach me: Saturated and unsaturated fats, and how they differ
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 29
- Quiz: The principle behind preserving food by heat
- WAEC prep: Preserving by chemicals, salting and the use of sugar
- Practice set: Choosing a preservation method for a given food
- Spot my mistake: Assuming salting and sugaring preserve food by killing micro-organisms outright
- Let me explain: Preserving by lowering temperature, and its limits
- Teach me: The principle behind preserving food by removing moisture
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 30
- Quiz: Steaming and stewing compared
- Quiz: Coagulation and how a cook controls it
- WAEC prep: Shallow frying and deep frying
- WAEC prep: Dextrinisation and the browning of baked foods
- Practice set: Cooking animal products so they stay tender
- Spot my mistake: The nutrient losses each cooking method causes
- Spot my mistake: Treating the browning of baked bread and the coagulation of egg as the same change
- Let me explain: Baking and roasting, and how each affects flavour
- Let me explain: Gelatinisation of starch when cereals are cooked
- Teach me: Boiling and simmering, and when each is right
- Teach me: What heat does to the protein in meat and in eggs
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 31
- Quiz: The common adulterants found in Nigerian foodstuffs
- WAEC prep: The legal penalties for adulterating food
- Practice set: Reporting suspected adulteration to the authorities
- Spot my mistake: Assuming a pack bearing a registration number cannot be counterfeit
- Let me explain: How a consumer can detect adulterated food
- Teach me: Permitted additives and the limits set on them
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 32
- Quiz: Carbon dioxide from baking powder and from yeast
- Quiz: Flaky and rough puff pastry
- WAEC prep: Strong and soft flour, and the products each suits
- WAEC prep: The proportions of fat to flour in each type of pastry
- Practice set: Identifying pastry faults and their causes
- Spot my mistake: Using the wrong flour and the result it produces
- Spot my mistake: Using warm fat and warm hands when rubbing in for short crust pastry
- Let me explain: Steam as a raising agent in batters
- Let me explain: Choux pastry and the products made from it
- Teach me: Air as a raising agent and how it is incorporated
- Teach me: Short crust pastry and the rubbing-in method
Revisit from three weeks ago
Pastry, Icing, Convenience Foods and the Consumer
↑ Jump to week- Week 33
- Quiz: Royal icing and the work it is used for
- WAEC prep: Choosing an icing to suit a particular cake
- Practice set: Applying icing neatly and decorating a cake
- Spot my mistake: Choosing glacé icing where a piped decoration is required
- Let me explain: Butter icing and fondant
- Teach me: Glacé icing and how it is made
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 34
- Quiz: Fruit juices and what they contribute to the diet
- WAEC prep: Caffeine and its effects on the body
- Spot my mistake: Assuming a soft drink is a substitute for a meal
- Let me explain: The effects of alcohol on nutrition and on health
- Teach me: The nutritive value of non-alcoholic beverages
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 35
- Quiz: The nutritive value of convenience foods against fresh
- Quiz: Linen, cutlery, crockery and glassware as table appointments
- WAEC prep: Safe reheating and the dangers of doing it badly
- Practice set: Turning leftovers into an appetising dish
- WAEC prep: Etiquette for the host and for the guest at table
- Practice set: Setting a table for a Nigerian family occasion
- Spot my mistake: Assuming convenience food always costs more than cooking the same dish from fresh
- Spot my mistake: Serving a three-course meal by setting all three courses on the table at once
- Let me explain: The cost comparison between convenience and fresh food
- Let me explain: Serving a meal in the correct order
- Teach me: The forms convenience foods take on Nigerian shelves
- Teach me: Setting a cover for a three-course meal
Revisit from three weeks ago - Week 36
- Quiz: Reading a food label and what must appear on it
- WAEC prep: The factors that influence a family's food spending
- Practice set: Shopping economically without losing nutritive value
- Spot my mistake: Judging value for money by the price of a pack rather than the price per unit weight
- Let me explain: Drawing up a food budget for a household
- Teach me: What consumer education covers
Revisit from three weeks ago