THE CORRELATION BETWEEN CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATION SCORES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA

Abstract

The idea of combining Continuous Assessment and examination to replace the single end of year examination as a means of determining the overall performance of students in the Nigerian University System has since become a norm and applied across all the Universities either as 30 or 40% of the final score. The objective of this study was to determine whether or not there is any positive correlation between the Continuous Assessment and examination scores of public administration students of the University of Abuja. In doing so, all examinations and continuous assessment scores of public administration students involved in the study were collected. Also, three hypotheses were formulated and tested using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The results revealed three courses were significant at the .05 levels. While the null hypothesis in respect of four courses was retained depicting a negative correlation. The results further revealed a weak positive correlation in respect of three other courses. The mean percentage scores are generally lower than 50% during the first year. As per the second year, six courses out of seven were found to be significant at .05 level. The result also indicates that the mean percentage in Continuous Assessment is higher than that of the examination. Five courses were also weak positive. Also, during the third year, six courses are significant at the .05 level, while only PUB 212 recorded a high positive correlation. The third-year result is generally fairer than those of the first and second years, while the mean percentages for both Continuous Assessment and examinations are generally poor, with a score of less than 40%.