State Based Transition and Mock Examinations as Predictors of Students’ Achievement in Senior Secondary School Examination in Kogi State.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which Transition and Mock examinations predict the student achievement in SSCE. The design of the study was correlational survey research design carried out in Kabba/Bunu and Mopamuro local government areas in the western senatorial district of Kogi state.
The population comprised of 9,677 secondary II students who sat for Transition examination in 2013/2014 academic session and wrote Mock examination in first term SS III. A sample of 520 students from the two local government areas was drawn using proportionate stratified sampling technique.
The instrument used for the data collection was students’ grade chart (SGC). It was standardized pro-forma. It was designed in such a way that the students’ grades could be obtained in STANINE form, that is, A1, B2, B3, C4, C5, C6, D7, E8 and F9 and assigned 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively.
The questions were answered using descriptive statistics and the hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance using Regression Analysis of variance (ANOVA). Major findings of the study showed that; (1) Transition and Mock Examinations in Mathematics are good predictors of SSCE Mathematics.
Transition and Mock scores accounted for 58% of the variance of students’ achievement in SSCE Mathematics. (2) There was a good prediction of SSCE English Language by Transition and Mock Examinations. Transition and Mock Examinations in English Language predicted 42% of the total variance of the students’ achievement in SSCE English Language.
(3) Transition and Mock Examinations in Physics are good predictors of SSCE Physics. Transition and Mock scores accounted for 38% of the variance of students’ achievement in SSCE Physics. (4) The prediction of Transition and Mock Examinations in Chemistry was good. Chemistry.
INTRODUCTION
There are examination bodies that are charged with the responsibility of conducting standardized examinations in Nigeria for certification of senior secondary schools. The bodies are, West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO), National Business and Technical Board (NABTEB) and so on.
According to the report made available by WAEC (2015), the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate, University of London School Examinations Matriculation Council and West African Department of Education met in 1948 concerning Education in West Africa.
Dr. George Barker Jeffery was appointed in the meeting to visit some West African States to see the general education level. The report given by Jeffery (1950) supported the proposal of a West African Examinations Council and making detailed recommendation and duties of the council.
The report was adopted without reservation by the four West African governments (Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana and Sierra Leone) and an ordinance (WAEC ordinance No 40) establishing the council as a corporate body was drafted by the West African Inter-Territorial secretariat in consultation with the governments.
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StudentsandScholarship Team.