Equating the scores from different forms of a test requires collecting data that link the forms. Problems arise when the test forms to be linked are given to groups that are not equivalent and the forms share no common items by which to measure or adjust for this group nonequivalence. We compared three approaches to adjusting for group…

Background: We adopted a theoretical framework that the acquisition of a scientific concept comprises the development of connections among conceptual elements associated with a scientific term within a mental semantic network. Given this framework, the hypothesis that the surrounding words connected with a scientific term are relevant to the…

A problem faced by many instructors is that of designing exams that accurately assess the abilities of the students. Typically, these exams are prepared several days in advance, and generic question scores are used based on rough approximation of the question difficulty and length. For example, for a recent class taught by the author, there were…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of group testing as a pedagogical technique to enhance learning in a difficult subject such as statistics. Individual test scores were compared to their group test scores for the same, identical test. A t test was used to compare the scores for 157 randomly selected MBA students enrolled…

The psychometric considerations and challenges associated with including constructed response items on tests are discussed along with how these issues affect the form assembly specifications for mixed-format exams. Reliability and validity, security and fairness, pretesting, content and skills coverage, test length and timing, weights, statistical…

This study investigated the convergent and discriminant validity of the high-stakes Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in both reading and writing at grade levels 4, 8, and 10. The data from the 2006 FCAT administration were analyzed via traditional multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) analysis to identify the factor structure and structural…

Results support the contention that a Guttman-weighted objective test can have psychometric properties that are superior to those of its unweighted counterpart, as long as omissions do not exist or are assigned a value equal to the mean of the k item alternative weights. (Author/BJG)

A hand-scoring system for a three-level confidence-marking scheme for short answer and multiple-choice tests is described. The scoring system is for a test where the student is asked to indicate for each answer whether the probability of his being correct is more than 1/2 (sure), 1/2 (neutral), or less than 1/2 (guess). The effect of the system is…

This paper outlines a technique for differentially weighting options of a multiple choice test in a fashion that maximizes the item predictive validity. The rule can be applied with different number of categories and the "optimal" number of categories can be determined by significance tests and/or through the R2 criterion. Our theoretical analysis…

This pilot study compared two empirically-derived, option-weighting methods and the resultant effect on the reliability and validity of multiple choice test scores as compared with conventional rights-only scoring. (MM)

The purpose of this article is to discuss some recent developments in the scoring of multiple-choice items from two angles. The first consists of the recent developments in the test instructions of the conventional scoring procedures, and the second consists of a discussion of new scoring methods and formulas. (Author)

One of the recurrent themes of the psychometric literature has been the idea that the incorrect responses a person makes to test items contain information that might be useful in determining the person's position on the variable the items are intended to define. The "Partial Credit" model, a member of the family of latent trait models…

The purpose of the study was to determine whether a subject weighted (SW) multiple-choice test taking procedure would result in higher and more reliable scores than the conventional (C) multiple-choice test taking procedure in general at different levels of risk taking. (Author)