The efficiency of cognitive component skills is typically assessed with speeded performance tests. Interpreting only effective ability or effective speed as efficiency may be challenging because of the within-person dependency between both variables (speed-ability tradeoff, SAT). The present study measures efficiency as effective ability…

Test administrators are appropriately concerned about the potential for time constraints to impact the validity of score interpretations; psychometric efforts to evaluate the impact of speededness date back more than half a century. The widespread move to computerized test delivery has led to the development of new approaches to evaluating how…

In the presence of test speededness, the parameter estimates of item response theory models can be poorly estimated due to conditional dependencies among items, particularly for end-of-test items (i.e., speeded items). This article conducted a systematic comparison of five-item calibration procedures--a two-parameter logistic (2PL) model, a…

Generalizability theory and analysis of variance methods are employed, together with the concept of objective time pressure, to estimate response time distributions and the degree of time pressure in timed tests. By estimating response time variance components due to person, item, and their interaction, and fixed effects due to item types and…

Study to determine whether potential bias exists in the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) which fee-free center candidates do not complete in the time available in as large a proportion as regular center candidates. (MB)

A sample of the literature on test speededness is reviewed; methods of assessing speededness are presented and criticized; the assumptions that underlie these methods are questioned, and alternate, multiple-administration methods are suggested. The importance of the effect of time limits is discussed. (Author/CTM)

Approximately 300 prospective graduate students each wrote two essays for the Graduate Record Examinations in 40-minute and 60-minute time periods. Analysis revealed that performance was, on average, significantly better with the 60-minute limit. There was no interaction between self-described test-taking style (fast versus slow) and time limits.…

Mixed integer linear programing models for customizing two-stage tests are presented. Model constraints are imposed with respect to test composition, administration time, inter-item dependencies, and other practical considerations. The models can be modified for use in the construction of multistage tests. (Author/TJH)

The effects of increasing the test time to reduce the speediness of verbal and quantitative experimental sections of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Aptitude Test were investigated. Results show that extension of testing time so as to reduce intergroup differences is not indicated. (Author/GK)

Third grade students were identified as either fast/accurate or slow/accurate in response style on the Matching Familiar Figures Tests and Thurstone's Spatial Relations Test. The fast and slow students performed similarly on untimed tasks, as predicted. Contrary to expectations, they also scored similarly on timed tests. (Author/RD)

Time limits on some computer-adaptive tests (CATs) are such that many examinees have difficulty finishing, and some examinees may be administered tests with more time-consuming items than others. Results from over 100,000 examinees suggested that about half of the examinees must guess on the final six questions of the analytical section of the…

The proportionality model assumes that total testing time is proportional to the number of test items and the number of options per multiple choice test item. This assumption was examined, using test items having from two to five options. The model was not supported. (Author/GDC)