This article presents a new approach to the analysis of how students answer tests and how they allocate resources in terms of time on task and revisiting previously answered questions. Previous research has shown that in high-stakes assessments, most test takers do not end the testing session early, but rather spend all of the time they were…

The Angoff standard setting method relies on content experts to review exam items and make judgments about the performance of the minimally proficient examinee. Unfortunately, at times content experts may have gaps in their understanding of specific exam content. These gaps are particularly likely to occur when the content domain is broad and/or…

Two investigations involving 700 candidates for medical specialty certification suggest that test items with only 4 options perform as well as the same items with 5 options. Results also suggest that five-option multiple-choice items can be reduced to four-option items by removing a nonfunctioning item. (SLD)

Performance of a common set of test items on an examination in which the order of options for one test form was experimentally manipulated. Results for 759 medical specialty board examinees find that reordering item options results in significant but unpredictable effects on item difficulty. (SLD)