Scoring/Rescoring

CLEAR Exam Review (Winter 1990)
Eric Werner, M.A.

Question: Following an examination, a board conducts an item analysis of its multiple-choice test and finds one or two questions to be seriously flawed (e.g., no correct answer, more than one correct answer, or a wrongly keyed answer). What should the board do with these questions in relation to the official scoring of the test?

Answer: In 1989, the Bureau of Examination Services of the Florida Department of Professional Regulation examined this issue and prepared a report on its own practices relative to those of a fairly large sample of licensing agencies throughout the country. Its report, "A Review of Licensing Agency Practices With Regards to Identifying and Rectifying Psychometrically Unsound Examination Items," was published in September of 1990 and is recommended to readers interested in this topic. It goes considerably beyond, but is generally consistent with, the following response to your question.

All test results should be reviewed before final scores and pass-fail decisions are computed. If an item is miskeyed, the key should be corrected and the test should be rescored.

If an item has more than one correct option, rescoring the test with credit for all correct answers is appropriate. Alternatively, the item may be deleted, since it did not meet the conditions of having one and only one correct response. However, the multi-option crediting approach should not be used as an alternative to careful test construction.

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