A Comparison of SSCE Questions Set by the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council, Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) essay questions set by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) in terms of how much they were distributed across the various levels of the cognitive domain. To this effect, the essay question papers set by WAEC and NECO in Biology, Chemistry and Economics in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 were obtained. These questions were analyzed by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation in terms of how many of them fell under the various levels of the cognitive domain. The result showed that for both examining bodies, most of the questions were knowledge and comprehension questions. When the distributions of the questions across the various levels of the cognitive domain, set by WAEC and NECO were compared, no significant difference was obtained. The conclusion therefore is that, as far as the distribution of questions across the levels of the cognitive domain is concerned, WAEC and NECO are similar.