Assessment in an integral aspect of educational sector where knowledge acquired by students are tested through this medium. Currently, Computer-based test (CBT) has become the means by which educational assessment is carried out, particularly, in school where physical assessment is difficult. However, most of the students exposed to this form of examination does not possess prior skills required to effectively deliver, hence the need to be acquainted with the modalities involved. This paper assessed the effect of prior reading, communication and computer literacy skills and its effect on the Computer-based test. A quantitative approach using survey questionnaires was adopted to carry out the analysis using purposive sampling technique. The population sample comprised, one hundred and twenty students of the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro which is the case study who had taken CBT entrance examination. The population samples are from 100 – 400 level students selected from the five Schools of the Institution. The findings showed that the majority of respondents have negative attitude towards CBT (75.30%) and they stated that they were incompetent with the use of computer due to their no prior knowledge of adequate reading skills, communication and computer literacy. The performance of the students in the reading skill, communication and computer literacy was low on the validity. This paper concluded that more teachings on reading skills, communication and computer literacy are still needed for the students to perform well compared with their International counterpart’s globally for innovation and global competitiveness.
Keywords: Computer Based Test, communication and computer literacy, global competitiveness, reading skill
