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Can You Tell the Difficulty of a PT By Its Scale?
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 2:54 pm
by MagnumLifeStyle
Let's say, for example, that on PT 25, the range between lowest and highest raw score to get 171 was 85 - 87 (hypothetically).
But on PT 50, the range to get 171 was 90 - 92.
Does this mean that PT 50 was relatively easer than PT 25? (more people got better scores, and thus the raw score needed to get 171 was raised?)
I'm not too familiar with scales, so I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks! =)
Re: Can You Tell the Difficulty of a PT By Its Scale?
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 3:00 pm
by Nulli Secundus
Yes that is what basically using a bell curve amounts to.
Re: Can You Tell the Difficulty of a PT By Its Scale?
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 3:04 pm
by balzern
For the most part yes. But "difficulty" is pretty relative. I found December 2009 to be really easy, yet it had an outrageous curve. Honestly, I think it really depends on the question types that are on a given test. These reflect PERSONAL difficulty, which, IMO, isn't reflected necessarily by the curve.
Re: Can You Tell the Difficulty of a PT By Its Scale?
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 3:08 pm
by Bildungsroman
MagnumLifeStyle wrote:Does this mean that PT 50 was relatively easer than PT 25? (more people got better scores, and thus the raw score needed to get 171 was raised?)
Yes. The raw score required for each scaled score is adjusted on each test to make sure the percentiles (the number of people getting each scaled score) remain roughtly equivalent across administrations.