The relationship between differential item functioning (DIF) and item difficulty on the SAT is such that more difficult items tended to exhibit DIF in favor of the focal group (usually minority groups). These results were reported by Kulick and Hu, and Freedle and have been enthusiastically discussed by more recent literature. Examining the…

Previous research has shown that rapid-guessing behavior can degrade the validity of test scores from low-stakes proficiency tests. This study examined, using hierarchical generalized linear modeling, examinee and item characteristics for predicting rapid-guessing behavior. Several item characteristics were found significant; items with more text…

Data from 10,000 college applicants, who had taken the Scholastic Aptitude Test-Verbal, were used to assess claims that guessing improves formula scores. Number of items attempted, a guessing index, the formula score, and an approximation of an ability score were obtained. Success in guessing is proportional to examinee ability. (TJH)

The research literature on short-term instruction (STI) and intermediate-term instruction (ITI) for the Scholastic Aptitude Test-mathematical section (SAT-M) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test-verbal sections (SAT-V) was reviewed. Selected studies of STI and ITI for tests other than the SAT-M and SAT-V, and of testwiseness (TW), were included in the…

In a study to determine whether a shift from Formula scoring to Rights scoring can be made without causing a discontinuity in the test scale, the analysis of special administrations of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Chemistry Achievement Test and the variable section of an operational form of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is…

Six editions of Scholastic Aptitude Test-Mathematical (SAT-M) were factor analyzed using confirmatory and exploratory methods. Confirmatory factor analyses (using the LISREL VI program) were conducted on correlation matrices among item parcels--sums of scores on a small subset of items. Item parcels were constructed to yield correlation matrices…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether it would be possible to equate rights-scored to formula-scored tests without causing a discontinuity in the meaning of the score scale. Several other subsidiary studies--of the characteristics of the two scoring methods, of nonresponse and guessing, and of reliability and parallelism--were also…

Data were reanalyzed from a previously reported study of the passage dependence of reading comprehension questions being developed for the revised SAT. The objective was to uncover any gender differences in approaches to and performance on a task requiring examinees to answer reading comprehension questions without reading the passages on which…

A student may be so unlike other students that his/her aptitude test score fails to be a completely appropriate measure. We consider the problem of using the student's pattern of multiple-choice aptitude test answers to decide whether his/her score is an appropriate ability measure. (Author/CTM)

A new free-response item type for mathematics tests is described. The item type, referred to as the Student-Produced Response (SPR), was first introduced into the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in 1993 and into the Scholastic Aptitude Test in 1994. Students solve a problem and record the answer by…

This study reexamines results reported by Angoff and Schrader regarding formula directions and rights directions for standardized tests. In that study, it was concluded that the two scoring directions were essentially equivalent. In this study, methodological concerns are discussed and additional data analyses undertaken. Among various…

I see much to be pleased with in Dorans' interesting response to my article, "Correcting the SAT's Ethnic and Social-Class Bias: A Method for Reestimating SAT Scores." However, I need to deal with several unstated assumptions and errors that underlie his presentation. In the process of enumerating his covert assumptions, I will take up…