CPA Exam - Scoring Resources
July 14, 2009
The following are links to various resources that get behind the how’s and why’s of scoring the CPA Exam...
How the CPA Exam is Scored
Topics Addressed
- Description of te CPA Examination
- Overview of the CPA Exam by Section
- Score Scale and Passing Score
- Weighting the Kinds of Questions and Calculating the Final Score
Questions Answered
1. If different candidates take different versions of the Exam are the scores comparable?
2. Are some versions harder than others?
3. Is Multi-Stage Testing fair? Why are you using it?
4. How do you decide which questions are hard and which are moderate?
5. Does that mean hard testlets can have easy questions and less difficult testlets can have hard ones?
6. What if a smart candidate does poorly on the first testlet? Can the candidate still pass?
7. Can a candidate get all medium difficult testlets and still pass?
8. Does this happen?
9. Can a candidate pass just by doing well on the multiple-choice questions?
10. What happens if candidates get a testlet that is too easy or too hard for them?
11. Can I compute my score from the number of questions I answered correctly?
12. What do you mean when you say "statistical characteristics"?
13. What is Item Response Theory (IRT)?
14. Does this mean two candidates could answer the same number of questions correctly, but get different scores?
15. In college some of my professors gave tests that had questions that were worth one point and others that were worth two points. If one student got five of the one-point questions right, he got five points. If another student answered five two-point questions right, he got 10 points. Is that what you’re doing?
16. I understand that item response theory says the scores are comparable, but do you have any evidence that scores from tests that vary in difficulty can really be comparable?
17. In general terms, what are the steps taken to produce the reported score?
18. Who are the subject matter experts who do the question reviews?
19. How was the passing score set?
20. Is there more that I can read about the Exam?
Additional Resources
- Psychometrics landing page at The Uniform CPA Examination
- Psychometrics - Wikipedia
- Score Review and Appeal Process
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