Who this is for
- Grade 9 learners, parents and teachers planning the final week for four KJSEA papers that often get squeezed: Agriculture 906/1, Social Studies 907, Creative Arts and Sports 911/2 and Religious Education 908, 909 or 910.
- According to KNEC's revised 2026 timetable, they fall on Wednesday 28, Thursday 29 and Friday 30 October 2026, each one after a bigger paper on the same day.
- The projects for Agriculture (906/2) and Creative Arts and Sports (911/1) were assessed earlier in the year, so only the written papers remain.
Every family knows which KJSEA papers get the attention: Mathematics, English, Kiswahili and Integrated Science. The other four written papers, Agriculture, Social Studies, Creative Arts and Sports, and Religious Education, tend to get whatever time is left over. Yet each one is reported on the same eight-level scale as Mathematics, and each carries the same weight in the 72-point total. A learner who drops a level in Social Studies loses exactly as many points as one who drops a level in Mathematics.
There is a second problem. In KJSEA 2026, none of these four papers comes first on its day. Agriculture follows Mathematics, Social Studies follows Integrated Science, Creative Arts and Sports is the third paper on Thursday afternoon, and Religious Education follows Pre-Technical Studies on Friday. They will be sat by a learner who has already written hard that morning. This guide gives you a final week plan for KJSEA Social Studies, Agriculture, Religious Education and Creative Arts and Sports that respects both facts: short, frequent revision for each, done early in the week, and a light touch in exam week. Dates come from KNEC's revised timetable (reference KNEC/TD/SE/KJSEA/TT/2026/003). Results figures come from the Ministry of Education's 2025 release, as reported by Citizen Digital and The Standard.
Information current as of Term 3, October 2026.
Key takeaways
- Agriculture 906/1: Wed 28 Oct, 11.30 a.m. to 1.10 p.m. Social Studies 907: Thu 29 Oct, 11.10 a.m. to 12.40 p.m. Creative Arts and Sports 911/2: Thu 29 Oct, 2.00 to 3.40 p.m. CRE, IRE or HRE: Fri 30 Oct, 11.10 a.m. to 12.40 p.m. (KNEC).
- In 2025, 52.26 percent of candidates met or exceeded expectations in Agriculture, 53.96 percent in CRE, 58.04 percent in Creative Arts and Sports and 58.56 percent in Social Studies.
- Each learning area is reported out of 8 points, so these four papers carry 32 of the 72 points available.
- Revise them in 30-minute bursts early in the final week; keep exam-week evenings for a 20-minute reread only.
Where the four papers sit in KJSEA 2026
Here is the slice of KNEC's revised timetable that matters for these subjects, with the paper each one follows. Candidates must be seated 15 minutes before every session.
| Paper | Day and time | Duration | Sat after |
|---|---|---|---|
| 906/1 Agriculture | Wed 28 Oct, 11.30 a.m. to 1.10 p.m. | 1 h 40 min | Mathematics 903 (2 hours) |
| 907 Social Studies | Thu 29 Oct, 11.10 a.m. to 12.40 p.m. | 1 h 30 min | Integrated Science 905/1 |
| 911/2 Creative Arts and Sports | Thu 29 Oct, 2.00 to 3.40 p.m. | 1 h 40 min | Integrated Science and Social Studies |
| 908 CRE, 909 IRE or 910 HRE | Fri 30 Oct, 11.10 a.m. to 12.40 p.m. | 1 h 30 min | Pre-Technical Studies 912/1 |
KNEC's 2025 briefing notes for supervisors, published by Education News Hub in February 2026, list both 906/1 Agriculture and 907 Social Studies as "structured and multiple-choice questions" on a personalised paper with an OMR sheet. The notes we have seen do not describe the 911/2 or Religious Education formats, so check the front page of the paper on the day and follow its instructions. The two projects, 911/1 Creative Arts and Sports (May to July) and 906/2 Agriculture (July), appear on the KNEC timetable as already scheduled earlier in the year.
Terms used in this guide
Learning area is the CBC name for a subject. KJSEA examines nine of them.
Command word is the instruction verb in a question, such as state, describe, explain or give reasons. It tells the learner how long and how detailed the answer should be.
Achievement level is one of KNEC's eight bands, from BE2 (1 point) to EE1 (8 points).
KJSEA Social Studies, Agriculture, RE and Creative Arts: the 2025 results
The chart shows the share of 2025 candidates who reached Meeting or Exceeding Expectations in each subject reported by the Ministry of Education on 11 December 2025. The four learning areas covered here are in blue. Hindu Religious Education is included as one of the Religious Education options; Islamic Religious Education and Pre-Technical Studies were not given separate figures in the reports we found.
| Learning area | 2025: Meeting or Exceeding Expectations | What it suggests for this week |
|---|---|---|
| Social Studies | 58.56% | Roughly four in ten fell short: map work and command words are where to look |
| Creative Arts and Sports | 58.04% | A written paper on a practical subject: learn the terms and rules by name |
| Christian Religious Education | 53.96% | Nearly half fell short: practise linking a teaching to a real situation |
| Agriculture | 52.26% | The lowest of the four: give it the first session of the week |
| Hindu Religious Education | 84.62% | The highest of any subject; HRE candidates still need timed practice |
Why do these figures matter for points? According to KNEC's explanation of the grading system reported by The Star in December 2025, each learning area is scored on eight levels from EE1 (8 points) to BE2 (1 point), and with nine learning areas the highest possible total is 72. The four papers in this guide therefore carry 32 of those 72 points. The Daily Nation's August 2025 explainer adds that the written KJSEA papers make up 60 percent of the overall score, with KPSEA and Grade 7 and 8 school-based assessment 20 percent each.
The final week plan for the four papers
The approach is short bursts, often. Each subject gets a 30-minute session early in the week, while your child is fresh, and a 20-minute reread on the evening before its paper. Agriculture goes first because it had the lowest 2025 figure of the four and because it comes earliest in the exam week. These sessions sit alongside the main-subject sessions in your existing plan, not instead of them.
| Day | Subject | 30-minute session |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 19 Oct | Agriculture | Ten short questions on crop and animal production, soil and conservation, food and nutrition. Mark them. |
| Tue 20 Oct | Social Studies | Map work: scale, direction and reading a key. Five command-word questions answered in full sentences. |
| Wed 21 Oct | Religious Education | Key teachings and texts learned in class; three "how can a Grade 9 learner apply this" answers. |
| Thu 22 Oct | Creative Arts and Sports | Terms, rules and techniques: a list of 20, recited and tested by a parent or sibling. |
| Fri 23 Oct | Rehearsal day | No new work. |
| Sun 25 Oct | Agriculture and Social Studies | Morning: one practice section of each, marked. Rest of the day for English. |
| Tue 27 Oct (evening) | Agriculture | 20 minutes after Mathematics revision: labelled diagrams and the corrections list. |
| Wed 28 Oct (evening) | Social Studies and Creative Arts | 20 minutes each, after a short Science look: map rules, then the 20-term list. |
| Thu 29 Oct (evening) | Religious Education | 15 minutes, after Pre-Technical Studies: the key teachings list. Early night. |
For the full schedule of the main subjects, see our KJSEA 3-week revision timetable. For a longer subject-by-subject guide to Social Studies, our Social Studies 907 revision guide goes strand by strand.
Practice items for each paper, with answers
These are original items written for this guide in the style of the papers. They are not KNEC questions. Use one or two at the start of each session.
Social Studies: map scale
Question. On a map with a scale of 1:50,000, two market centres are 4 cm apart. What is the actual distance in kilometres?
- Actual distance = 4 × 50,000 = 200,000 cm.
- 100,000 cm = 1 km, so 200,000 cm = 2 km.
The habit that scores: show the conversion from centimetres to kilometres, not just the answer. Our guide to map work and sources has more.
Social Studies: command words
Question. "State two ways in which a citizen can take part in governance." Answer: voting in elections; taking part in public participation forums. "State" asks for a short point each. If the question said "explain", each point would need a reason as well.
Agriculture: conservation
Question. Give two methods of controlling soil erosion on a sloping farm and say how each works. Answer: terracing, which reduces the speed of running water down the slope; planting cover crops, which protect the soil surface from raindrops and bind it with roots. A method plus how it works is what earns the full mark.
Agriculture: nutrition
Question. Name the main nutrient supplied by beans and its use in the body. Answer: protein, used for growth and the repair of body tissues.
Creative Arts and Sports: rules and terms
Question. How many players from each team are on the court in netball? Answer: seven. In football it is eleven on the pitch, and in volleyball six on the court. In music, in simple time such as 4/4, a crotchet is worth one beat. Rules and terms like these are recall marks, earned by a list learned this week.
Religious Education
CRE. Which two commandments did Jesus call the greatest (Matthew 22:37 to 39)? Answer: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind; love your neighbour as yourself.
IRE. Name the five pillars of Islam. Answer: Shahada, Salah, Zakat, Sawm and Hajj.
HRE. Name the four aims of human life (Purusharthas). Answer: Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
In each Religious Education option, the marks that separate candidates usually come from applying a teaching to a real situation in a full sentence. Practise "A Grade 9 learner can apply this by..." for each teaching on your child's list. For more, see our CRE, IRE and HRE revision guide.
A case study: Hassan in Garissa
Take Hassan, a Grade 9 learner in Garissa who spends every evening on Mathematics and Science. His mock report showed AE1 in Agriculture and ME2 in Social Studies, mostly from unfinished answers at the end of each paper. His father gave him four 30-minute sessions in the final week, one per paper, and a rule: every answer to an "explain" question gets a "because". Hassan did not become an Agriculture expert in a week. He started finishing papers and giving reasons, which is what moves a learner from one band to the next in a paper sat after a harder one.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Leaving these papers until the night before. Each comes after a main paper on the same day. The night before belongs to the first paper, so these need sessions earlier in the week.
- Ignoring command words. "State" needs a short point; "explain" needs a point and a reason. Long answers to short command words waste time, and short answers to "explain" lose marks.
- Skipping lunch on Thursday. Creative Arts and Sports starts at 2.00 p.m., after the 50-minute break. A learner who skips food sits it on empty.
- Forgetting the OMR sheet in Agriculture and Social Studies. Both have multiple-choice items. Shade every one in pencil before moving on.
- Assuming the projects cover the subject. The 911/1 and 906/2 projects are done, but the written papers 911/2 and 906/1 still count.
Resources for these four papers
Single-subject packs with predictive papers and separate answer booklets are available for KJSEA Agriculture and Nutrition, KJSEA Social Studies, KJSEA Religious Education and KJSEA Creative Arts and Sports. They are original practice papers by CBC Edu Kenya, not KNEC papers. For all nine learning areas in one download, the KJSEA Complete Revision Course is the simpler choice.
Free practice is in our KJSEA Agriculture sample questions and Creative Arts and Sports sample questions. For an instant explanation of any term, try Somo, our CBC AI tutor. Grade 9 notes for every learning area are on the Grade 9 study hub.
Frequently asked questions
When is the KJSEA Social Studies paper in 2026?
According to KNEC's revised timetable, 907 Social Studies is on Thursday 29 October 2026, 11.10 a.m. to 12.40 p.m., after Integrated Science 905/1.
When are the Agriculture and Religious Education papers?
906/1 Agriculture is on Wednesday 28 October, 11.30 a.m. to 1.10 p.m. CRE (908), IRE (909) and HRE (910) are all on Friday 30 October, 11.10 a.m. to 12.40 p.m.
Is the Creative Arts and Sports project part of the exam week?
No. KNEC's timetable shows the 911/1 project ran from May to July 2026. In exam week, candidates sit only the 911/2 written paper, on Thursday 29 October from 2.00 to 3.40 p.m.
Do these papers count as much as Mathematics?
For the points total, yes. KNEC reports each of the nine learning areas on the same eight-level scale, up to 8 points each and 72 in total.
How did candidates do in these subjects in 2025?
According to the Ministry of Education figures reported by Citizen Digital and The Standard, 58.56 percent met or exceeded expectations in Social Studies, 58.04 percent in Creative Arts and Sports, 53.96 percent in CRE, 52.26 percent in Agriculture and 84.62 percent in HRE.
My child takes IRE. Is there a 2025 figure?
Not in the reports we found. The release listed HRE and CRE figures but not a separate IRE figure, so we do not quote one.
Conclusion
Agriculture, Social Studies, Creative Arts and Sports, and Religious Education carry 32 of the 72 KJSEA points, and in 2026 every one of them is sat after a bigger paper on the same day. That is why they need their own sessions early in the final week, from Monday 19 October, and a short reread the evening before, rather than whatever time is left. Start with Agriculture, which had the lowest 2025 figure of the four, practise command words in Social Studies, learn the terms and rules for Creative Arts and Sports by name, and practise applying each Religious Education teaching in a full sentence. For timed papers with separate answers, the KJSEA Complete Revision Course covers all four.
Further reading
Grade 9 KJSEA Complete Revision Course
All 9 learning areas in one download: notes, worked examples, topical questions and full marking schemes. Rebuilt for the 26 to 30 October assessment.
⏳ Only 7 days to the national assessments on 26 October. Start now.
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