Hi everyone! Moronic question. If one scores say 75 right answers out of 100 what would be one's score on that particular CLEP exam?
It is not moronic. What is moronic is the ETS's scoring system. No, a 75% will not, except by coincidence, equate to a 75 on the test. Each test is "normed" against a group of people who've taken a class in that subject. Your raw score is compared to theirs. Then, your score is translated into a CLEP score on a 20-80 scale, "normed" around 50 as the 50th percentile. (It's assinine; they should just report percentiles, but they don't.) What's really goofy is that scores don't compare from test-to-test. A 45 on American Government isn't necessarily the same as one on Economics. (There is no telling which was the higher, either in raw score or in percentile.) However, a 50 is a 50 is a 50. (They're equal in percentile, but no necessarily in percentage.) Confused? Good, then ETS has met its goal. It obscures its practices in a whole lot of mumbo-jumbo, matched with inane, self-confirming research. And then it wraps it all up in sales pitches that demean its so-called non-profit status. (Oh, it makes a profit all right, and is constantly on the make for more.) This is from their CLEP site: Students -- of ALL Ages Whether you are 16 or 68, if you're thinking about getting a college degree, CLEP can get you where you want to go. Colleges and Universities Offering credit for satisfactory scores on CLEP exams can help attract -- and retain -- highly motivated students. Test Center Administrators Keep up to date on the CLEP Computer-Based Testing model and other news in CLEP administration. Corporate CLEP Corporate CLEP partnerships benefit working adults, employers, and local colleges and universities. If you are looking for ways to boost your company's employee education benefits program and translate training into college credit, CLEP has some answers. High Schools Learn how you can help your students get recognition for their academic accomplishments and take advantage of a CLEP and Advanced Placement Program partnership. Parents Discover how a CLEP "scholarship" can save your family money and shorten your child's path to a college degree. It, along with the SAT, GRE, GMAT, Praxis, and many others, is a dirty, money-grubbing business. One that allowed me to take two bachelor's degrees from start-to-finish in 21 months before I was even 21 years old. If you can't get 30, 60, or even more credits my taking this junk, you just aren't trying.
And further more, if I may add to Rich's rant, the standards for performance are changed from time to time, so a performance that might have placed one in the 50th percentile on a given test 10 years ago might put that person in the 60th percentile now. This seems to me a bit like reducing the length of rulers by 10%, and then announcing that children are about 10% taller than they used to be.
I'm still confused. Are you telling me that there is no sure way of knowing what my CLEP score would be (on their 20-80 scale) if I were to get 75 out of 100 right answers?
They have even changed the scoring after the fact. I took the GRE many moons ago, and years later I received a letter from ETS saying that they were dropping one question from the old test that I had written (because they had belatedly discovered that the question was ambiguous or ill-posed in some way). The letter went on to say that they were readjusting everyone's scores to fit their curve, and re-reporting the scores to all the institutions they had previously reported them to! This was entirely irrelevant to me since I had already graduated (after 6 years). But my opinion of ETS went from a mediocre 1 out of 10 to a firm zero. What a bunch of utterly worthless bureaucrats.
The rule of thumb is if you are scoring around 80% on the practice tests, you will get an 'A' every time. I first saw this on Lawrie's website and after twenty-some odd CLEP, DSST, and ECE tests, I agree. Some schools grade all CLEP tests as pass/fail and some assign letter grades. This rule of thumb worked well for me except for the much discussed American Government CLEP (which I scored well on, but Excelsior has a very high cutoff score for an 'A'). So, if you take a look at Excelsior's cutoffs, your 75% should be somewhere around them.
Incidentally, in tomorrow's Education Life supplement to the New York Times, there is a long article about SAT and ACT. The interesting point made is that SAT is becoming similar to ACT (in terms of trying to measure competence rather than aptitude). I took neither the SAT nor the ACT, so I can't comment on them. But the article did confirm my extremely low opinion of ETS and its associates (College Board, etc.).
The ACT measures competence? I hardly attended high school after my sophmore year (I took the GED and then went to work), yet I still scored in the 99th percentile on that test. I always thought it tested more aptitude than competence. Then again, let's consider the four parts of the test. Math - about freshman level. English - Probably the same, for me this was the hardest part, obviously . Science Principles - simple, simple, simple. Reading comprehension - even more so, I attained a perfect score by understanding that Jack and Jill were walking up an inclined slope. What level of competence is being measured? Tony Of course, this is probably your point. This isn't really that goofy at all. They (the testing agencies) are in essence grading on a curve. If the curve is steep between an A and a C on a certain subject, then the relative scores are obviously not going to compare well, except for the 50 percentile which is self defined. BTW, Dantes has released their equation that details how they equate raw scores, I would believe that CLEP scores are equated in a like fashion. If CLEP has not done so, it is indeed a shame, since it has nothing to do with the validity of the process. Not at all. The tests change as does the knowledge being tested and the norming (the cheers effect ) of the tests. These tests are designed to approximate the knowledge gained though seat-time and compare this against someone who wants to challenge that their self directed knowledge is on par. In other words, if they release a new test, and the performance of the control group raises or lowers, then the challengers performance is measured by the same 'ruler' as the control group. It is hard to say anything except that you will likely pass, and if it is graded receive an A or B grade. Tony
