After my last WASSCE paper, I spent three weeks helping my uncle on his building site in Takoradi.

Not because I wanted to, but because I had nothing structured to do and no one had told me what that waiting period was actually for. I carried blocks, mixed concrete, and spent my evenings staring at the ceiling, wondering whether I had passed.

Seven years into my career, I now understand what I failed to see then: the person you become in the waiting period matters as much as the grade you receive at the end of it.

So here is what I wish someone had told me.

1. Map Yourself Before The Results Map You

Most SHS graduates enter the next chapter knowing only their scores. They know very little about what they are actually good at, what energises them, and what kind of work they will still be doing with enthusiasm ten years from now.

Use this window to answer three honest questions in a notebook: What do people ask me for help with, even without being asked? What have I done for free that I would gladly do again? What frustrates me so much that I want to fix it? The pattern in those answers is more useful than any grade.

If you want a framework, the Holland Code (available free at mynextmove.org) gives language to strengths you already know intuitively. A student who scored B3 in Elective Maths but has been resolving disputes in the neighbourhood since Form 1 has a social intelligence that no WASSCE paper has ever measured. Know what you bring before anyone else defines it for you.

2. Build One Skill To A Useful, Not Impressive, Level

The waiting period between your last paper and university admission varies. For some students, it is four months; for others, it is closer to eighteen. That window is long enough to reach one concrete milestone: becoming good enough to do one small paid job.

If you have consistent access to a device and data, consider Canva for graphic design, CapCut for basic video editing, or free coding courses on platforms like freeCodeCamp, Alison, Coursera, and YouTube. Pick one and stay with it.

If consistent internet access is not your reality, that is worth stating plainly: offline paths are not lesser options. Visit your nearest NVTI (National Vocational Training Institute) centre or shadow a skilled relative or neighbour for two weeks. That is an apprenticeship without paperwork, and it has produced some of the most economically resilient people in the country.

As you focus on gaining useful digital skills during this waiting period, it is also important to follow official updates on the release of the 2026 WASSCE results. Once the results are released, candidates and parents can conveniently buy their results checker voucher by dialling 7133998# or visiting buycheckercodes.com.gh.

3. Earn Something: Money, Experience, Or Both

Ghana has always known how to make waiting productive. Market traders who started at sixteen selling on commission, and tailors who took their first clients the week school ended, were not filling time; they were building foundations.

One of the best options for SHS graduates is tutoring JHS students in their neighbourhood. It costs nothing to start, pays real money, and forces you to re-engage with subjects you may need again in university—this time from the position of someone who must explain clearly rather than just reproduce answers.

If you pursue online gig work, stick to trusted platforms and involve a responsible adult. Protect yourself before you earn.

4. Do One Concrete Research Task About Your Next Step

This is not a call to spend months building a spreadsheet comparing universities. It is a call to do one specific thing: visit the website of the university you are most likely to attend and check the entry requirements for the three courses you are considering.

Write them down. Then ask yourself whether your expected results meet those requirements, and what alternatives exist if they do not.

One hour of real research now can prevent years of reactive decision-making later. While you are there, look for one scholarship that interests you—not to apply immediately, but to understand the requirements and note the deadlines.

Some scholarships, including Commonwealth and Mastercard Foundation Scholars programmes, require tertiary enrolment. Others can be prepared for earlier. Understand the landscape before you need to act.

5. Your Result Is Coming. You Decide What It Means.

I know people who failed their WASSCE and today run departments, support families they are proud of, and sleep well at night. I also know people who passed with distinction but have spent years chasing a version of success that was never truly theirs.

The result matters, and I will not pretend it does not. In many Ghanaian homes, the weight of a result is shared by the whole family—parents who sacrificed, siblings who watched—and that pressure is real.

But your family’s expectations often come from love, even when it feels like judgement. The most useful thing you can do now is speak to one adult in your life, not for advice, but simply to hear that they survived their own version of this moment.

Your WASSCE result is one data point in a life that will produce thousands of them. Do not let a single number define your story.

When results are released, candidates can buy their results checker voucher instantly by dialling 7133998# or visiting buycheckercodes.com.gh.