Rasch Model Scaling of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons' Basic Surgical Sciences Multiple Choice Question Examination
Staffing
P. Griffin, M. Wu. and N. Zoanetti
Summary
In 2004, Rasch scaling was conducted on five of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ consecutive Basic Surgical Sciences MCQ examinations using the Quest 90 (Adams & Khoo, 1995) software package. Items that were common to multiple tests were used to calibrate all tests to a single, anchored item-difficulty scale. This scale was extended across all items to determine the relative item difficulties in the five tests under investigation. Such test equating methodologies have been applied to maintain the pass standard across examinations.
Exploration of candidate reporting formats was also undertaken as part of this project. In 2005, the production of candidate summary reports in addition to Graphical Item Maps, and adaptation of kidmaps, was trialled and eventually implemented by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
From 2008, Bookmark Standard Setting procedures have been carried out to set pass standards and corresponding cut-scores for a number of specialty-specific surgical science examinations.
Funding Source
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Publications
Griffin , P. & Zoanetti, N. (2005). Standard Setting for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ Basic Surgical Sciences Examination. Parkville : Assessment Research Centre.
Griffin , P., Wu, M., & Zoanetti, N. (2004). Rasch Model Scaling and Reporting for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ Basic Surgical Sciences MCQ Examination. Parkville: Assessment Research Centre.