Clep Macroeconomics question

[wahid]

Do you guys know what the passing score is for the Clep Macroeconomics test. is it 50 questions out of 80 total questions or 50% of the 80 questions, and if anyone has any hints or tips for this test please let me know. I am taking the test this Thursday.
Thank you

[wb.john]

Do you guys know what the passing score is for the Clep Macroeconomics test. is it 50 questions out of 80 total questions or 50% of the 80 questions, and if anyone has any hints or tips for this test please let me know. I am taking the test this Thursday.
Thank you

The passing score is a scaled grade of 50. I don't think it's possible to know for us to know what that means in terms of number of questions passed.

Here's a good website on this exam: Principles of Macroeconomics CLEP Study Guide

[rmroberts]

It's a scaled score between 20 and 80 with 50 as passing. I think it usually works out to be around 50% but I could be completely wrong.

[nyumbani]

cant exactly tell if its % but it doesnt go by percent. once you do the test, you just get a score

[Chebasaz]

It's actually a little more complicated than that, unfortunately.

Each exam is graded with a curve based on average pass rates, so on some it may be as low as 30% (just as an example) while others may be as high as 70%.

You can usually tell the ones that have a huge curve. There's a lot of "How in the world did I pass this?" in the exam feedback threads. The Statistics DSST springs to mind, which is kind of ironic in a way.

There are some that I knew I nailed over 3/4 of the exam, only to get two or three correct answers above passing on my actual score. It's annoying, but it evens itself out.

[FenderNed]

Here's a generic way of calculating your success on practice exams. It's not exact in all cases due to the scaling of the individual topics/exams, but often can be a great predictor of your readiness. I saw this concept on this forum some time back, but can't remember where. Anyway, it goes something like this:

Take the number of correct answers on your practice exam and multiply them by 100. Then take this number and divide it by the total number of questions. This will give you a score based on 100. We then take this score and multiply it by .6 plus 20. The result is a weighted score that compares to the CLEP scoring system. Here's an example:

You have answered 90 questions and 58 are correct. So, we take 58 and multiply by 100 which equals 5800. We then divide 5800 by 90 total questions which gives us 64.4 out of 100.

Now, we take 64.4 and multiply by .06 to get 38.64. Next, we take the 38.64 and add 20 points. This gives us a weighted score of 58.64, rounding up to 59 out of 80.

If there are only 80 questions, there is a lot less math involved...

It is believed that this scoring system (score X .06) + 20, is close to the way CLEPs are graded. I can't verify this, but it makes sense. The .06 is the value each correct answer receives and the 20 refers to the 20 unscored "experimental test" questions on each exam.

I welcome all other comments and ideas regarding these theories.

[NAP]

I thought this article about DSST and CLEP scoring, which was originally posted by gofastinc, was very interesting.

http://www.getcollegecredit.com/pdfs/exam-scoring.pdf

DSST is saying that the new refreshed exams are being scored similarly to CLEP, and the old non-refreshed exams are not. Instead of comparing test-takers to each other to determine the passing score (old non-refreshed DSST exams), they are both (new DSST and CLEP) setting a certain number/percentage of questions correct as the passing score.

[Chebasaz]

Whoa, nice find:

Criterion-Referenced Standard Setting
The new scoring model applied to the 10 DSST exams refreshed in 2008 is called “criterion-referenced.” This method sets cut scores based on judgments about individual test questions or the test as a whole. It determines how many of the
test questions must be answered correctly in order to pass. Criterion-referenced scores are based on how much the examinees know, not how they performed against others in the same pool.

So I stand corrected - The old DSST's were scored based on averages, but the new ones are based on how many questions you answer correctly. I kind of like it better this way. Seems more "fair". I was never a fan of grading curves.

Thanks for posting this NAP (and gofastinc).

[wahid]

This will help me prepare a little more for the test.

[ShotoJuku]

[COLOR="Navy"]FACT: The lowest possible score is a 20. The hight possible is an 80.

FACT: Approx. 1/2 the questions on the test must be successfully answered to get a 50, or a pass.


Now, the hypothesis: In a 100 question test, such as Sociology and many others, there are only 60 possible points (between 20-80) for 100 questions.

60 points divided by 100 questions = .6pts

If each questions is worth .6 points, 50 correct questions = 50q X .6pts = 30pts

You must add 20 since 0 correct questions = 20pts.

30 points + 20 points = 50 points, or a pass.

Now:

If each point in a 100 question test is worth .6 points, 100 questions X .6 points = 60; 60 + 20 = 80.

By this formula, answering 75 questions correctly would translate to a score of 65.[/COLOR]