The adaptive SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) exam was announced in January 2022 by the College Board, with the goal to modernize the test and make it more widely available, migrating the exam from paper-and-pencil to computerized delivery. Moreover, it would make the tests “adaptive.” But what does it mean to have an adaptive SAT? How […]
One of the primary goals of psychometrics and assessment research is to ensure that tests, their scores, and interpretations of the scores, are reliable, valid, and fair. The concepts of reliability and validity are discussed quite often and are well-defined, but what do we mean when we say that a test is fair or unfair? […]
In the field of psychometric forensics, examinee collusion refers to cases where an examinee takes a test with some sort of external help in obtaining the correct answers. There are several possibilities: Low ability examinees copy off a high ability examinee (known as the Source); could be unbeknownst to the source. Examinees work together and […]
Positive manifold refers to the fact that scores on cognitive assessment tend to correlate very highly with each other, indicating a common latent dimension that is very strong. This latent dimension became known as g for general intelligence or general cognitive ability. This post discusses what the positive manifold is, but since there are MANY other […]
Certification, Certificate, and Licensure are terms that are used quite frequently to refer to credentialing examinations that someone has to pass to demonstrate skills in a certain profession or topic. They are quite similar, and often confused. This is exacerbated by even more similar terms in the field, such as accreditation, badge, and microcredentials. This […]
A test battery or assessment battery is a set multiple psychometrically-distinct exams delivered in one administration. In some cases, these are various tests that are cobbled together for related purposes, such as a psychologist testing a 8 year old child on their intelligence, anxiety, and autism spectrum. However, in many cases it is a single […]
The Test Response Function (TRF) in item response theory (IRT) is a mathematical function that describes the relationship between the latent trait that a test is measuring, which psychometricians call theta (θ), and the predicted raw score on the test in a traditional notion (percentage/proportion/number correct). An important concept from IRT, it provides a way […]
If you are delivering high-stakes tests in linear forms – or piloting a bank for CAT/LOFT – you are faced with the issue of how to equate the forms together. That is, how can we defensibly translate a score on Form A to a score on Form B? While the concept is simple, the methodology […]
Linear on the fly testing (LOFT) is an approach to assessment delivery that increases test security by limiting item exposure. It tries to balance the advantages of linear testing (e.g., everyone sees the same number of items, which feels fairer) with the advantages of algorithmic exams (e.g., creating a unique test for everyone). In general, […]
The two terms Norm-Referenced and Criterion-Referenced are commonly used to describe tests, exams, and assessments. They are often some of the first concepts learned when studying assessment and psychometrics. Norm-referenced means that we are referencing how your score compares to other people. Criterion-referenced means that we are referencing how your score compares to a criterion such as […]
