DSST scoring

[shelbaline4]

I was wondering if anyone had information on how DSST exams are scored. I know that CLEP exams range from 20-80, but wasn't sure with DSST. I know I need a 45 to pass The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, but was unsure of how many questions I would need to get correct in order to pass the exam.

[MA2]

As this has been asked many times before, no one really knows what percent correct equals what your score would be. People have guess and ways of estimating, most people will say that about 60% right will get you a pass, but it varies by test.

The "passing" score is really what a "C" student that took that college class would have scored on the CLEP or DSST exam.

Meaning on a harder test, like Calculus for example, a "C" student might only get 40% right, whereas an easier exam like Marketing, a "C" student might get 70% right.

So basically you have to score higher than, or equal to, a "C" student in that class to get a passing score.


This following is from a FAQ on my colleges website which I don't think anyone on here has ever mentioned before.

How are DSST scored?

For every DSST, the number of right answers is counted and a fraction of the number of wrong answers is subtracted from that total. If your test had questions with five answers, one-forth of the number of wrong answers is subtracted. If your exam questions offered four choices, one-third of your wrong answers is subtracted. The resulting figure, a formula score, is converted to a DSST scaled score.

[NAP]

Since there is no penalty for guessing incorrectly on CLEP and DSST, can this explanation be true?

I should know this, but my brain is overloaded with a Biochemistry practice test at the moment.

[MA2]

I don't know, this is just what my colleges website says. I never heard this anywhere on this website, or from Prometric... but maybe my school just let this one slip? lol

[burbuja0512]

I don't know, this is just what my colleges website says. I never heard this anywhere on this website, or from Prometric... but maybe my school just let this one slip? lol

Hmmm.. I think that they might be confusing it with one of the other tests out there. I am almost positive that I would have never passed a single test if I got penalized for guessing

[MA2]

I don't quite think that's what they mean because right above that in another question it says there's no penalty for guesses. But who knows, this is from the school itself, not Prometric.

[NAP]

To me, what the school is describing is a penalty system to eliminate the benefit of guessing, which is very similar to how the GRE (Subject Exams) score works. I am trying to develop a strategy for educated guessing on the GRE, since I never had to think about it during CLEP and DSST. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I did some more checking.

CLEP says at the bottom of this link - "The raw score increases by one point for each question answered correctly, and no points are gained or lost when a question is not answered or is answered incorrectly."

How Exams Are Scored

DSST says in the left-hand column at the bottom of the second page - "No, students are not penalized on any exam (refreshed or not) for wrong answers. Students are awarded points for correct answers. If a student answers incorrectly, they simply don’t get awarded the point for that question."

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


If I am understanding this correctly, then all CLEP/DSST questions should be answered because wrong answers will not hurt your score, but blank answers can not help.

I hope this makes sense.

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To shelbaline4 - If "Number of Items" equals the number of questions, then I think this document is saying there are about 100 questions on this exam.

http://www.getcollegecredit.com/download...100108.pdf

[nairon]

There is actually a great technical data sheet here (http://www.getcollegecredit.com/download...100108.pdf) that actually goes into depth on the scores required to pass the various DSST exams. It seems as though the Prometric people provide a great deal more technical info than our friends at CollegeBoard do for the CLEP.

If you read the document, specific to the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union DSST, you can see that there are two forms of the test: one with 95 questions and a second with 100 questions. The mean (average) score on both tests was 50.0 correct answers. This means the 95-question test was considered "easier" by the average person.

Based on the info provided, the mean score is translated into a score of 50 on the given exam. (On this test, it just so happens that 50 correct questions equals a scaled score of 50, but this won't always be the case.) On the Rise and Fall test, you need a passing score of 45, which is less than the mean. After doing some calculations (I can share the method if anyone cares,) it appears that a passing score would be gained by:

on the 95 question test: 44/95 questions correct (approximately 47% correct)
on the 100 question test: 43/100 questions correct (43%)

Naturally, this is specific to the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union test, as requested. Other tests have vastly different required minimum scores based on the test's difficulty, number of questions, and required cut score.

Hope this helps!

[MA2]

Wouldn't the best way to find out how the score is calculated to have someone go in, take a test, not answer a single question, and click "end test" and see what the score is?

I would do it because my exams are free but I don't think the Navy would like that

[nairon]

How would that help determine the total amount of correct answers needed? The number of correct answers is based on a normal distribution; one correct answer isn't worth the same number of scaled score points depending upon how many a given person obtains. Someone who answered zero questions correctly would likely just receive the minimum score of 20.