New Diagnostics Report

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arcat said:
Did anyone else look at the sample of the new diagnostic report for the PE?
I guess now we'll really know how we do compared to others when we fail.

http://ncees.org/Exams/Pages/Scoring.php
Click to expand...
Not only that, but from this new format it looks like it might actually be possible to determine the raw cutscore for a particular test., putting an end to years of glorious speculation.

Am I right here? I'm not sure exactly how to interpret that last bar graph thingy.

Anyway, I'll be interested to see how the theories stack up as people whip out their rulers to attempt to determine the official cutscore.

 
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The last paragraph on the report makes it sound like there isn't a cut score for passing.

"Performance in a knowledge area significantly below that of the average passing candidate contributed to your failing the exam"

 
arcat said:
The last paragraph on the report makes it sound like there isn't a cut score for passing.
"Performance in a knowledge area significantly below that of the average passing candidate contributed to your failing the exam"
Click to expand...
I never noticed the sample diagnostic report before, that's pretty handy. I think that could still mean there is a cut score (vs. straight 70% correct). Once they determine the people they deem competent, they can compare the others to the passing averages. The alternative is they took 59+ days to create the pretty reports for everyone that didn't get 56 or more questions right.

 
ekrekel said:
arcat said:
The last paragraph on the report makes it sound like there isn't a cut score for passing.
"Performance in a knowledge area significantly below that of the average passing candidate contributed to your failing the exam"
Click to expand...
I never noticed the sample diagnostic report before, that's pretty handy. I think that could still mean there is a cut score (vs. straight 70% correct). Once they determine the people they deem competent, they can compare the others to the passing averages. The alternative is they took 59+ days to create the pretty reports for everyone that didn't get 56 or more questions right.
Click to expand...
Yeah.

Of course there is a cut score. It could be 70% it could be something else.

I don't think the diagnostics looked like this before - I never saw anybody talk about this "passing examinee" information. And it still took a long time to get the exam, so I don't think the graphic design of the diagnostic report is what's holding things up.

 
I think I discovered the flaw in my thinking - and this may not be that much help if you want to deduce the raw cut score. You are given your performance in comparison to the "average passing examinee." Not the "barely passing by one point examinee." The average passing examinee may score well above the exact cutscore, and i don't think you can tell from this how high above the exact cut score. So this may not be much help in determining that cut score. But I'm sure people will try and I'm open to reading their theories.

 
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benbo said:
I think I discovered the flaw in my thinking - and this may not be that much help if you want to deduce the raw cut score. You are given your performance in comparison to the "average passing examinee." Not the "barely passing by one point examinee." The average passing examinee may score well above the exact cutscore, and i don't think you can tell from this how high above the exact cut score. So this may not be much help in determining that cut score. But I'm sure people will try and I'm open to reading their theories.
Click to expand...
With enough results we could see the highest raw score (43 in the example). Whatever the highest score reported +/- a couple would give a pretty good idea of the size of the curve.

 
ekrekel said:
benbo said:
I think I discovered the flaw in my thinking - and this may not be that much help if you want to deduce the raw cut score. You are given your performance in comparison to the "average passing examinee." Not the "barely passing by one point examinee." The average passing examinee may score well above the exact cutscore, and i don't think you can tell from this how high above the exact cut score. So this may not be much help in determining that cut score. But I'm sure people will try and I'm open to reading their theories.
Click to expand...
With enough results we could see the highest raw score (43 in the example). Whatever the highest score reported +/- a couple would give a pretty good idea of the size of the curve.
Click to expand...
That's true. We could always do that. I'm just not sure this new format/information adds as much as I first thought. I'll be curious to see if anybody tries it out with real information.

 
It's nice that you won't have to extrapolate your failing grade from percentages shown vs. percentages of questions given like I did in the past and the color bar charts look wonderful... but I hope that I never see it.

I wonder if they use any color graphics for the passing letters?

 
The new report format is much improved. It may not shed enough light to determine a cut score, but let's face it. If we pass, do we really care about the cut score? The new format it certainly more useful for determining relative weaknesses and focusing study time for the next time.

...I still don't want one with my name on it, but if I do end up getting one at least I'll know where I stand with regard to the average of the average passing score and what to study harder.

 
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