This study empirically analyzed the item difficulty and discrimination indices of senior school certificate examination SSCE multiple choice biology tests used by West African Examinations Council and National Examinations Council in Nigeria. Sample for the study consisted of 1450 Senior Secondary Three students drawn from 20 randomly selected secondary schools. Item by item analysis was used for obtaining difficulty and discrimination indices. Findings from the study showed that 2008 SSCE Biology multiple choice test had mean difficulty index of 0.42 and slightly higher than NECO Biology multiple choice test with mean difficulty index of 0.40 and 2008 SSCE in Biology had a discriminating power of 0.43 and higher than NECO with mean discriminating power of 0.39. It was recommended that 4 option items in multiple choice Biology tests should be encouraged but if 5 options items should be used more attention should be given to psychometric properties of tests...

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How to enhance and maintain quality of education in Nigerian University education system has become one of the central issues in educational assessment and evaluation. It is important to note that no nation can rise above the standard of her education. The quality of education in Nigeria is presently rated as low. Many scholars have observed that many graduates are unemployable because they lack relevant and required skills. Therefore, this paper examines the present educational quality in Nigeria, reasons for the current trend, assessment issues, advantages and disadvantages of computer-based tests in the university system, recruitment of staff without thorough assessment and politics of accreditation in Nigeria. It was concluded that the quality of education in the University system can be enhanced and maintained through qualitative assessment. Also, there is the need to review the process of recruitment of staff, accreditation procedures, monitoring and evaluation of standard as wel.....

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This study empirically analyzed the item difficulty and discrimination indices of senior school certificate examination SSCE multiple choice biology tests used by West African Examinations Council and National Examinations Council in Nigeria. Sample for the study consisted of 1450 Senior Secondary Three students drawn from 20 randomly selected secondary schools. Item by item analysis was used for obtaining difficulty and discrimination indices. Findings from the study showed that 2008 SSCE Biology multiple choice test had mean difficulty index of 0.42 and slightly higher than NECO Biology multiple choice test with mean difficulty index of 0.40 and 2008 SSCE in Biology had a discriminating power of 0.43 and higher than NECO with mean discriminating power of 0.39. It was recommended that 4 option items in multiple choice Biology tests should be encouraged but if 5 options items should be used more attention should be given to psychometric properties of tests. Keywords difficulty indices.....

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