The results obtained from two basic types of pre-equatings of tests were compared: the item response theory (IRT) pre-equating and section pre-equating (SPE). The simulated data were generated from a modified three-parameter logistic model with a constant guessing parameter. Responses of two replication samples of 3000 examinees on two 72-item tests were generated. Tests of various numbers of non-operational items were simulated by ignoring certain item responses of the examinees. Smaller samples were drawn from the large pool. The analyses involved equating the two tests with five different lengths of non-operational test sections (12 to 48 items) and six different sample sizes (300 to 3000) using both the IRT and SPE methods. Results suggested greater accuracy for both IRT and SPE when sample sizes were larger than 1500 and longer tests were used. For smaller samples and shorter tests, however, the IRT results were less satisfactory than those of SPE. The results suggested that SPE may provide more accurate equating than the IRT method when small samples (under 1000) and shorter tests (under 90 items) are necessary. (Author/GDC)