Yardstick Measure™: Custom exam administration reports

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Understanding your post-administration exam reports

Have you ever wondered about the types of exam administration reports that Measure generates? Yes, there is more than one. You can retrieve an “Exam History”, “Exam Responses” and/or an “Exam Notes” report after each exam administration. Each of these reports serve different purposes. Here’s a quick snapshot of each of them, and how they can help you.

“Exam History” Report

An “Exam History” report provides information on the candidates who completed an exam, their raw scores expressed as percentages, and comparison of these raw scores with the passmark (i.e., pass or fail). Exam data can be filtered by the date of exam administration, exam, exam form, exam delivery method (paper-based vs. online) and by the venue (see Figure 1). The report can also be configured to include such columns as candidate’s first and last name, the start and end time of the exam, and the number of questions answered (for more useful fields, see Table 1).

Figure 1. “Exam History” Report configuration panel

Table 1. Useful fields for “Exam History” Report

“Exam Responses” Report

An “Exam Response” Report provides exam responses of candidates by question along with the answer key and question meta-data. This report is useful for those who need a detailed breakdown of candidates’ responses per question for exam scoring purposes. I use the data from this report when I score an exam using other statistical software following an item analysis.. This report can be used to calculate candidates’ total exam score as well their sub-scores by competency or knowledge area. The fact that this report provides meta-data associated with each question enables an organization to obtain candidate’s sub-scores by any meta-data category, including competency.

If required, the “Exam Responses” report may be useful for reviewing exam results with candidates. An exam administrator can walk a candidate through his or her exam responses, while showing an answer key and a reference for each question.

The data for this report can be filtered by the date of exam administration, exam, exam name, and by the type of output. The most useful types of output are “Answers” and “Total time spent per question.” The latter specifies the number of seconds each candidate took to respond to a question.

Figure 2. “Exam History” Report configuration panel

Useful fields from an “Exam Responses” report are provided in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Useful Fields for “Exam Responses” Report

“Exam Notes” Report

An “Exam Notes” report is a handy tool for downloading comments that each candidate makes on questions during the exam. It lists candidates’ comments by question. Even though this data does not feed into the candidate’s exam score, it provides important diagnostic information for exam questions. If candidates find issues with a question, they can report them in the “Notepad” in Measure.

An exam developer may use Exam Notes” report whenever there is a need for subject matter experts to review exam questions (e.g., group item review). Subject matter experts may be asked to take an online exam and comment on the questions they do not like. As with other reports in Measure, “Exam Notes” report can be configured by the date of exam administration.

Figure 3. “Exam Notes” Report configuration panel