4 This study examined the effect of practical on candidates‟ academic achievement at the advanced level physics GCE examination in Buea municipality. Specifically, the study sought to examine how the practical paper and SBA affect candidates‟ academic achievement. Two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Descriptive survey research design was used. The target population for this study was made up of all GCE Board staff that are involved in managing the centre during marking, the examination officer, the examiners involved in the marking of advanced level physics examination and the panel members (Assessor, Chief Examiner and assistant chief Examiners) and the scripts of candidates for GCE 2023 academic year. The accessible population consisted of all examiners that have marked for at least ten years and above, the chief of centre, the exam officer for advanced level physics, the panel members (Assessor, chief examiner and assistant chief examiners) and scripts of candidates. The sample comprised of 2 GCE Board staff, 6 senior examiners and 529 advanced level physics candidates scores drawn from public, lay-private and denominational high schools in Buea municipality from the 2023 GCE marking session. The instruments for data collection were a structured interview guide designed for 2 GCE Board staff and 6 examiners. and candidates‟ marked scripts. Data collected were analysed using thematic, descriptive and inferential statistics. For descriptive statistics, mean was used while for inferential statistics, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that practical paper have a direct and strong relationship on candidates‟ academic achievement at the advanced level physics GCE examination in Buea municipality with the correlation coefficient of, rxy= 0.86. Also, it was revealed that there was a strong and direct positive relationship between SBA and candidates‟ academic achievement at the advanced level physics GCE examination in Buea municipality with a correlation coefficient of rxy = 0.18. Based on the above findings, it was recommended that practical and SBA should carry more weight than the other assessment instruments for testing physics candidates, since they show the real performance of the candidates. The government should make sure that, practical is well done in schools by providing the equipment. The regional Inspectors should also ensure that SBA is well carried out in schools by carrying out regular inspections in schools.

Key Words: Practical, school-based assessment, academic achievement.