Assessment of students’ academic performance using admission entry requirements under the computer-based test and paper-pencil-based test in Kaduna state university, Kaduna – Nigeria

The study aimed to assess whether the students from mathematical science-based undergraduate degree programmes in Kaduna State University perform academically better when either the Computer-Based Test (CBT) or the Paper-Pencil Test (PPT) is used to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), which is conducted annually by the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB). The study adopted a quantitative approach to research. A purposive sample of one thousand and twenty-three (1023) first-year students constituted the population for the study. This population was drawn from Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics undergraduate degree programmes in the Kaduna State University who were admitted from the 2010/2011 to 2012/2013 and 2015/2016 to 2016/2017 academic sessions respectively. The instruments used for data collection were the UTME scores and the academic standing of first-year Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) results, which were coded and analysed with the aid of Computational Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were the statistical tools used to answer the four (4) research questions raised. The results revealed a majority of the students who performed academically better were those who used the PPT as their test medium in writing the UTME. It concluded that the majority of the students who wrote the UTME using PPT performed better in their academics. The study thereby recommended that there is a need for the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) to review its examination policies in mathematics-based subjects to enable students to pass such subjects with flying colours, thereby encouraging them to perform better academically in the undergraduate studies.