Assessment of Items Prone to Guessing in SSCE Economics Multiple-Choice Tests among Students in Kwara State, Nigeria

The study investigated items that were prone to guessing in Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) Economics multiple-choice tests among students in Kwara State, Nigeria. The 2016 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) and National Examinations Council (NECO) Economics multiple-choice test items were subjected to guessing parameters. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design, carried out in 25 randomly selected public Senior Secondary Schools in Kwara State. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to sample 768 Senior School III students. The instruments used for data collection were 2016 WASSCE and NECO multiple-choice Economics items. Guessing parameter was computed using WinGen IRT software package used to compute and answer research question 2 (What are those 2016 WASSCE and NECO Economics multiple-choice test items prone to guessing?). The hypothesis was tested using the chi-square statistic at 0.05 level of significance. One of the findings revealed that items prone to guessing in WASSCE and NECO were of the same rate. The finding also revealed that no significant difference existed in items guessed in WASSCE and NECO. One of the recommendations revealed that the classroom teachers and professional developers should avoid clauses such as “except”, all of the above”, “none of the above” and “not” to mention a few. This could reduce the guessing tendency in multiple-choice items.