Analysis of 2014 Post UTME Score of Candidates in the University of Ibadan with Two Methods of Standard Setting to Set Cut Off Points

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to analyse the 2014 Post UTME scores of candidates in the university of Ibadan towards the establishment of cut off using two methods of standard settings. Prospective candidates who seek admission to higher institution are often denied admission through the Post UTME exercise. There is no single recommended approach to standard setting and many methods exist. These include norm-referenced methods and the criterion-referenced methods. The Angoff method is the most widely used and researched criterion-referenced method of standard setting. Two different methods of standard setting were applied on the raw scores of 648 Post-UTME candidates in the University of Ibadan. One of these was the modified Angoff method and the other the norm-reference method of standard setting (mean minus 1 SD). The pass rates derived from the two methods were compared. The result revealed the pass rate with the norm-reference method was 85% (551/648) and that by the Angoff method was 50% (340/648). The percentage agreement between Angoff method and norm-reference was found to be 54% with the Angolf modified method, whilst by the norm-reference method was 85%. Thus, the two standard-setting methods used, produced significantly different outcomes. This was demonstrated by the different pass rates.