PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

The West Side Test Anxiety Scale (WTAS) is considered one of the most successful measures for determining which students have test anxiety deficits. However, the psychometric properties of this measure have not been adequately established, especially in Nigeria. Hence, the primary objective of the current study is to investigate the psychometric qualities of the 10-item WTAS in a sample of 300 undergraduates at a public university in Nigeria. This cross-sectional study employed a convenience sampling method. The investigation was conducted using the Rasch analysis measurement framework to investigate the following criteria: Rasch model’s assumptions, construct validity, reliability evidence, Wright map, and differential item functioning (DIF). The results indicated satisfactory outcomes for most of the criteria, including DIF, construct validity, and reliability evidence. Specifically, the analysis revealed strong item reliability at 0.96 and acceptable person reliability at 0.70, indicating that the data met the expected standards by the Rasch model. However, it was discovered that the WTAS items were unable to target responders with higher abilities at the top of the assessed instrument on the Wright map. Consequently, we recommend that future revisions of the WTAS should include items specifically designed to target and differentiate among high-ability respondents. This adjustment would improve the scale’s precision across a broader range of test-taker abilities.