The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced it has taken steps to combat guessing during the board’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) with the introduction of Item Response Theory.
JAMB’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Fabian Benjamin told Vanguard newspaper that JAMB has invested heavily in training and acquisition of some software applications that are specifically designed for examinations.
“Technically, what we were using before to test students was what we called Classical Test Theory, but now we have adopted what we call Item Response Theory. The difference is that the Item Response Theory reduces the percentage of guessing.The tendency for students to guess and guess right is minimal with this software,” he said.
Supporting the introduction of CBT and the anti-guessing software, Fabian said it has become difficult for candidates to engage in examination malpractice. He added that JAMB is taking steps to ensure that its staff members are well trained.
“This year, we have sent over 100 staff for training abroad for international and local training to make them grounded in the art of computer based test,” he said.
