Al-Hikmah University Journal

The equating of educational assessments serves as a crucial component in ensuring fairness and comparability across different examination boards. This study aimed to equate the 2022 WAEC May/June and NECO June/July Mathematics multiple-choice examinations using the linear equating method. Specifically, the study establishes a statistical procedure that aligns the ability parameters, and determined the difficulty and discrimination parameters of the two examinations. The methodology involves the collection and analysis of item response data from a representative sample of 1,486 SS3 students in seven (7) selected public secondary schools in Yenagoa Metropolis, Bayelsa State using multi-stage sampling procedure. Three research questions were answered with descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), while two hypotheses were tested using independent sampled t-test statistics at 0.05 alpha level of significant.  The findings of this study revealed that the 2022 WAEC May/June scores is equivalent to the 2022 NECO June/July scores using linear equating method; there is no significant difference in the item difficulty parameters of the 2022 WAEC May/ June and 2022 NECO June/ July Mathematics multiple choice Examinations; and there is a significant difference in the item discrimination parameters of the 2022 WAEC May/ June and 2022 NECO June/ July Mathematics multiple choice Examinations. The study recommends that the examination bodies should implement quality assurance mechanisms to monitor the consistency and accuracy of discrimination level evaluation across test items.