By Andrew Stafford
Andrew is NCIDQ’s Exam Manager, who oversees everything about the program from the first draft of an exam question to the publishing of the final scores. In this role, he answers a lot of questions about the exam. We asked him to share with us the questions that he hears all the time and provide some advice related to those questions. He should know, he’s a Certificate holder, and he tells us he remembers vividly what the exam experience was like.
At NCIDQ, we are often asked about the passing score for Section 3 of the exam. People just want to know what they have to do to pass. The short answer is that the point deemed to be “entry-level competence” necessary to pass the examination is confidential and does not change unless the exam format changes dramatically. In college, you got a certain number of test questions right and accrued enough points to pass with something above what your school determined was a failing score. Licensing exams are not like that. We are testing your competence—that is, your ability to apply knowledge, not just a recall of facts.
The multiple-choice passing point is set at 500 but how many questions that represents is confidential. Each question has a weight, and each exam is weighted to be equivalent in its level of difficulty. After statistical analysis, if a question is deemed to be flawed in some way, that question is not scored. (Each exam contains 25 non-scored “experimental” future questions, but your responses to those questions do not affect your grade.) For every exam, you must meet the same level of entry-competence determined by the Board of Directors. There is no set “number” of questions you need to pass.
In Section 3 (the practicum), your competence is demonstrated through showing your work on seven discrete exercises, each of which has a different weight in your total score. One of the changes to the exam that was made this year was the way in which the exams are scored. The point of minimum competence is again, confidential.
You don’t “get” points for doing something right on an exercise. Rather, following a rigorous training period, the graders make a determination on how well you demonstrated your competence and assign a score from 0 to 5 for each exercise. You don’t have to do everything right in each exercise in order to pass; a 5 is not necessarily a perfect exercise. In fact, you can make minor errors as long as the graders can see evidence of your competence in the area being tested. Learn about the scoring method here.
Weaknesses in one exercise can be compensated by strengths in other exercises. In other words, you don’t have to “pass” all seven exercises to pass Section 3. Due to the weight each exercise has on the final outcome, it’s possible, for instance, to pass five exercises and fail two and yet still fail the exam.
My best advice is to concentrate on doing the best you can on each exercise rather than trying to figure out how little you can do and still pass. The former will lead to a calmer exam experience and the latter will only confuse and frustrate you.
If you know you’re weak in one area, get some additional experience in that area. Don’t assume you can “make up” the points in an exercise where you think you might be stronger. That just adds unnecessary pressure and doesn’t guarantee a successful outcome.
Our practice design problems are the perfect way to check yourself. You can see the entire exam as it was presented. Simulate the testing experience and use that experience to help guide your preparation. In my opinion, that’s a worthwhile way to spend your time.
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