Assessing Item Difficulty, Discrimination, Guessing and Carelessness Parameters of the NABTEB 2022 Economics in South-South States of Nigeria

The study examined the item parameters of the National Business and Technical Education Board 2022 May/June Economics examination in the South-South States of Nigeria using the four-parameter item response theory model. The study was a descriptive survey, which adopted the ex post facto design. The population of the study consists of 2909 students who took the National Business and Technical Education Board 2022 May/June Economics multiple choice Examinations in Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers States. This also serves as the sample of the study. The research instrument for the study was the Economics multiple choice test items for the National Business and Technical Education Board 2022 May/June Examinations. The National Business and Technical Certificate Examinations (NABTCE) May/June 2022 Economics multiple-choice items were already validated and standardized. However, the reliability of the scores was ascertained using the Cronbach alpha and it gave an index of 0.89.  In analyzing the data, the item calibration was done using Jmetrik IRT software. Thereafter, the research questions were answered using frequency counts. The findings that emerged showed that the items of the National Business and Technical Education Board 2022 May/June Economics discriminated effectively among the low and higher achievers, was of medium difficulty, and the guessing and carelessness parameters performed well which suggested that the items were good. It was therefore recommended that examination bodies should use the four-parameter item response theory because there is always the possibility that students with low or high abilities may give an aberrant response.