Would you want to know your raw test score up front?

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calimechanicaleng

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I am still anxiously waiting for my test results and I was thinking about if they gave us our raw scores a week or two after the test? Then knowing your raw score you have to wait the full 8 weeks for them to do whatever they do to curve it/process the scores. I think it would be worse if you found out your score was boardline but awesome if your score was high. What would you guys perfer (not that we have a choice)?

 
I like pass/fail thank you very much. I don't need to waste time worrying about things that are out of my control.

 
There would be no sense in knowing your raw score before the verdict other than i guess... having a ridiculously high or low score and knowing what steps to do next. The people with borderline scores will still be left in limbo. I like how they currently do things, except for that the wait is excruciating. A raw score for the people who passed would be nice so you can see how you did rather than just a blanketed statement.

 
There would be no sense in knowing your raw score before the verdict other than i guess... having a ridiculously high or low score and knowing what steps to do next. The people with borderline scores will still be left in limbo. I like how they currently do things, except for that the wait is excruciating. A raw score for the people who passed would be nice so you can see how you did rather than just a blanketed statement.
I wonder if the waiting process will change any when NCEES switches to a fully electronic system. Much like RN's, and NP's(pass/fail is known instantly after completing the test). If I recall, the FE exam is scheduled to be replaced in 2014, so it only makes sense that the PE might be a few years behind that.

 
i dont think so. According to the scoring information on their website they still have to complete the psychometric analysis of the exams. So i would think that it should cut down on the delay between test and results but they still need a few weeks.

 
I would want to know but I wouldn't want it posted for the world to see ... Even if I pass, i would also like to know the breakdown of right/wrong for each subject (structural, geotech, w/e, etc) ... but that's cause I'm just really curious ...

 
I wish they did this. I know I passed, with an 80%, but I'd love to know the raw score....

 
I thought if you pass they don't tell you at all how you did other than that you passed. Is this not true? Do they give you your percentage score?

*Sorry about the horrible spelling, I use my phone to check this site out often, and my auto-correct is horrible and I often don't catch it on that small screen.*

 
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Thanks snickerd3. I wish my state did that!

If I do pass, I'm always going to wonder if I crushed it or if I didn't do quite as well as I thought I did.

 
Hi Aadams22,

When did they start using the Scantron? Do you think we'll get our results any sooner?

Thanks for the info,

Badwill

 
aadams22 said:
I am still anxiously waiting for my test results and I was thinking about if they gave us our raw scores a week or two after the test? Then knowing your raw score you have to wait the full 8 weeks for them to do whatever they do to curve it/process the scores. I think it would be worse if you found out your score was boardline but awesome if your score was high. What would you guys perfer (not that we have a choice)?
I'd rather wait for the final score. Besides it doesn't take 8 weeks for them to curve/process anything. It's all ScanTron. It's been a week now...every single test is already graded, in a computer program, and said program has already calculated the curve. The 8 week wait was from a time when all the tests were hand graded when that amount of time was actually needed.
Well, since we're making outlandish statements without facts, I'll wager they haven't even received all the answer sheets back yet.

Have you even looked at their scoring process explanation? http://ncees.org/exams/scoring/scoring-process/ Seems pretty straightforward to me - and in that process, they're probably only in step one or two at this point.

 
^This is true, but you still have to have "meetings" to validate the results and they pass from NCEES to the state boards, yada, yada, yada...it all takes time. Should it take 2-3 months, NO, but it is what it is, try to get a PE without this process and see what ya get...

 
aadams22 said:
aadams22 said:
I am still anxiously waiting for my test results and I was thinking about if they gave us our raw scores a week or two after the test? Then knowing your raw score you have to wait the full 8 weeks for them to do whatever they do to curve it/process the scores. I think it would be worse if you found out your score was boardline but awesome if your score was high. What would you guys perfer (not that we have a choice)?
I'd rather wait for the final score. Besides it doesn't take 8 weeks for them to curve/process anything. It's all ScanTron. It's been a week now...every single test is already graded, in a computer program, and said program has already calculated the curve. The 8 week wait was from a time when all the tests were hand graded when that amount of time was actually needed.
Well, since we're making outlandish statements without facts, I'll wager they haven't even received all the answer sheets back yet.

Have you even looked at their scoring process explanation? http://ncees.org/exams/scoring/scoring-process/ Seems pretty straightforward to me - and in that process, they're probably only in step one or two at this point.
I'm fully aware of what their current process is, however I also know how ScanTron works. It takes literally a matter of minutes to run through an entire stack of ScanTron sheets from a testing site. It's all done on computer, and is done immediately. All of this review stuff by checking for missing infomation is done by...wait for it...computer. They will know immediately whether something is missing once the sheet is run through the computer. As for the manual scoring it just says "a percentage" with no indication on how large or small that percentage is. Odds are however that it is extremely low. People seem to forget that the PE hasn't always been a multiple choice exam. Sometime in the early 90's was the time when it went from a written exam to multiple choice with ScanTron sheets. The 2-3 month time frame to grade the exams was from when the test was still a written exam and they needed all that time to grade each one. Feel free to do some research on it, or better yet ask your supervisor because I'd willing to bet that when they passed their PE they took the written exam. Since everything is now done by computer there is no excuse to keep the 2-3 month time frame to grade the exam. It should done in a matter of a few weeks. This may not be what you want to hear but it is fact. ScanTron is used by teachers and professors so they can have everything graded in a matter of minutes. If you honestly think that it takes 2-3 months to grade ScanTron tests then prove it to me, however adding a link from the testing service is not a viable source. They will say whatever they want to justify their actions.
Well, since this is an exam for a licensing test to help decide who is allowed to design things that affect public safety and not a community college geography class, I would rather they take the time to make sure everything is correct and not just "run it through a machine". Isn't it better that they run their QA/QC, review questionable statistics and ensure everything is correct before releasing the results? Or would you rather they risk their credibility (and therefore the credibility of everyone's PE license) by quickly releasing the results and coming back later and revoking licenses because of a scoring error? You don't hear about them having issues like the bar exams, SAT and others. I'm glad they make sure.

And you can look at the spreadsheet that's posted on here somewhere and see that they've improved the process and are getting the results out much sooner than they used to. Looks like in Spring 2010 it was 46 days - that's a little over six weeks (hardly 2-3 months). And I am one of those old guys that took the exam before it was multiple choice. I took mine in October and didn't find out until mid-February (123 days).

And stay out of my yard! :eek:ld-025:

 
And I am one of those old guys that took the exam before it was multiple choice. Back then they only had one testing facility and it was at the top of Mt. Everest! You weren't allowed a Sherpa to help you bring your references either! I took mine in October and didn't find out until mid-February (123 days).

And stay out of my yard! :eek:ld-025:
Fixed it for you :p

 
I wouldn't want to know the raw score... It would be more brutal of a wait to feel you were on the cusp.

 
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