Owolabi, Henry OlumuyiwaOnuka, AdamsOgunjimi, Mayowa OlurotimiMustapha, YusufSheu, Adaramaja LukmanDaramola, Dorcas Sola2019-06-102019-06-102017http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2099Effectiveness of options supplied to an objective test item is reflected by the number of examinees selecting them. West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO) and National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) conduct Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) and its equivalents for the certification of school based and private candidates while the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) conducts the Universities and Tertiary Institutions’ Matriculation Examination (UTME) for selection and placement of candidates into tertiary institutions across Nigeria. Although examination bodies ensure the functionality of items used by them, it has become necessary for researchers in psychometrics to carry out confirmatory tests to determine the extent to which options supplied in certification and placement tests are functioning. This pilot study was therefore designed to determine the functionality of options in the 2015 SSCE English Language multiple choice test items used by two examination bodies in Nigeria – WAEC and NECO. A total of nine hundred and sixty final year senior secondary school students presented for school certificate examinations in 2017 were sampled across the country. Item analysis statistics revealing percentage of examinees selecting each option to multiple choice items were computed. It was found that all options supplied by WAEC to 2015 SSCE English Language were either fairly or highly functional while 4.4% of those supplied by NECO were not functional. WAEC had larger proportion of highly functional options compared with NECO. Presence of nonfunctional options implies that sufficient attention has not been given to careful supply of options during the test development process. A need for further investigation was identified. It was thus recommended that a countrywide study in all the subjects examined at the school certificate level by each of the examination bodies should be conducted. More attention should also be given to issues of quality of options supplied to test items before they are administered to improve public examinations used for selection and placement of candidates into tertiary institutions.enOptions functionalityTest qualitySelectionPlacement of candidatesArticle