Understanding Scaled Scoring on ARDMS Exams
When you receive your ARDMS exam results, you might notice a "scaled score" rather than a simple percentage of correct answers. This is because standardized testing programs, like those offered by ARDMS, utilize scaled scores to ensure fairness and consistency across different test forms. Here's a breakdown of what scaled scoring means and how it impacts your results.
What is a Scaled Score?
A scaled score is a statistical conversion of your raw score (the number of correct answers) onto a common scale. This conversion accounts for the varying difficulty levels across different versions of the test. The purpose of this is to ensure that scores are comparable, regardless of which test form was taken.
Why Use Scaled Scores?
Consistency: Scaled scores enable consistent reporting of results from one test form to another, even if there are slight differences in difficulty.
Fairness: By adjusting for difficulty, scaled scores ensure that no test taker is unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged by the specific test form they took.
Comparability: Scaled scores maintain their meaning over time. A scaled score of 555 will always represent the same level of achievement, regardless of when or on which form the test was taken.
How Scaled Scores Work
For an easier test form, a test taker needs to answer more questions correctly to achieve a particular scaled score. Conversely, for a more difficult test form, fewer correct answers are required to achieve the same scaled score. This means that two examinees with the same scaled score have demonstrated the same level of proficiency, even if their raw scores (number of correct answers) differ.
Example of Scaled Scoring
To give you a general idea of how scaled scores relate to raw scores:
If you're answering around 90% of questions correctly, your scaled score will likely be in the passing range.
A user scoring 55% correct might receive a scaled score in the range of 500 to 560, but this is generally below the passing threshold.
Currently, your scaled scores, even at the high end, are still below the passing mark. This indicates that more study and preparation are needed to reach the desired level of proficiency.
Key Points to Remember
Scaled scores are not a direct percentage but a representation of your performance adjusted for test difficulty.
Achieving a scaled score of 555 or above is required to meet the minimum passing standard for ARDMS exams.
Consistently high percentages of correct answers are necessary to ensure your scaled scores fall within the passing range.
Understanding the concept of scaled scoring can help you better interpret your results and focus your preparation efforts. Keep aiming for higher accuracy in your answers to improve your scaled scores and achieve certification success.
If you have any questions or need further assistance with your exam preparation, feel free to reach out to us. We're here to support you on your journey to certification.
Reference:
According to ARDMS website:
"SCALED SCORING
To achieve comparability, standardized testing programs such as the ones offered by ARDMS report scaled scores. The reported scaled scores are obtained by statistically adjusting and converting raw scores onto a common scale to account for differences in difficulty across different test forms. For an easier test form, a test taker needs to answer slightly more questions correctly to get a particular scaled score. For a more difficult test form, a test taker can get the same scaled score answering slightly fewer questions correctly.
Using scaled scores enables test results to be reported consistently from one test form to another. Though test forms are designed to be as similar as possible, slight differences do occur. Scaled scores, however, maintain their meaning over time and test forms, so if two examinees achieve the same scaled score on two different test forms, they will have demonstrated the same attainment. In the scaled score for the ARDMS tests, 555 will always represent the ‘minimum standard’ but the ‘raw score’ (the total number of correct answers) that equates to it may be slightly different from one test form to another"