Centralized Secondary School Examination, Basic Education Certificate Examination and Mathematics Test Anxiety As Predictors of Students’ Achievement in Mathematics
Volume 6 Issue 3
Okoi A. Okoi Nkechipatricia-Mary Esomonu
Pages: 235-239 Download Count : 2044 View Count: 2458 DOI Number . Facebook Twitter Share on Google+
Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to investigate centralized secondary school examination (CSSE), basic education certificate examination (BECE) and mathematics test anxiety as predictors of students’ achievement in mathematics. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Expo-facto research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised all the students who took Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) in 2017/2018 academic session in Imo state. The sample of this study comprised of 850students who took SSCE drawn through multi-stage sampling technique. CSSE 2017 result sheet, BECE 2016 result sheet, SSCE 2018 result sheet and mathematics test anxiety questionnaire (MTA) was used to collect data. The data collected were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Results of the study revealed that CSSE, BECE and mathematics test anxiety had both composite and relative influence on students’ achievement in mathematics. It was recommended that CSSE should be taken as a core component of the assessment process in mathematics at the SSII level as it prepares the students to face public examination situation, also BECE should be maintained in JSSIII third term by junior school board and avoid examination malpractice capable of destroying it. It was also recommended that students should be exposed to anxiety reduction activities like relaxation, exercises, debate, inter and intra class quiz competitions.
Keywords
- Mathematics
- test anxiety
- predictor
- students’ achievement
- examination