Cut Score Update?
I know the estimated time for the new cut score is this coming Monday (1/11). I know the target number is 400, is there any update to the number of tests taken? Is it likely we will receive our scores on Monday if we've tested during this period?
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Madison,
NCARB is still collecting exam results data across all six divisions so scores will not be ready to be released as originally expected. Deliveries slowed during the month of December as appointments were rescheduled to later dates and COVID-19 impacted deliveries in some regions.
NCARB is meeting with our psychometricians on a reoccurring basis to assess the volume of exam results and continues to prepare to process the cut scores as soon as enough data is in hand to provide valid results that fairly assess candidates' performance.
At this time, early score results are expected to be completed in late January with lower volume divisions being released in early February. NCARB will be releasing greater information about the specifics around each division's progress in a candidate communication next week.
Although the length of time to release the score results is longer than NCARB had desired, we are committed to ensuring that all cut scores are fully vetted before impacting any candidate. Expect to hear more next week.
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Candidates that tested on Practice Management should expect their score results first as this division has the highest delivery volume at this time. Project Planning & Design and Project Management have the next highest volumes of current deliveries. Programming & Analysis, Project Development & Documentation, and Construction & Evaluation are expected to be the last divisions released.
PcM should hit 400 administrations this week and then the final analysis will happen and the establishment process completed by the end of January.
PPD and PjM should hit 400 administrations early next week (around the 20th) with data analysis starting then and score results being released in early February.
The remaining three divisions, PA, PDD, and CE, should hit 400 administrations in late January (around the 26th) with the data analysis being completed as soon as possible and results released hopefully in the same early February timeframe.
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Thank you for the update, that is helpful. For the divisions that won't be ready until early February, has there been any consideration for a time extension (similar to what NCARB did during the height of the pandemic) or any other incentive?
If it is taking longer than anticipated to determine the new cut score, I think a time extension on the rolling clock should be considered. This is potentially causing delays for test takers not knowing their score therefore not knowing if they need to schedule a retake right away. If a time extension is not feasible, will the 2 month waiting period for scheduling a retake be waived?
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Rubi,
PcM scores are being processed now and will be released to jurisdictions on Wednesday morning of this week. Most jurisdictions release scores almost immediately, but some do hold them for a day or so for internal processing. If you are waiting on a PcM score, you will likely have your results before the end of the week.
Provisional feedback for all future PcM divisions will be enabled on Thursday of this week. Anyone who takes PcM on or after this Thursday should expect to receive that score report within a couple days of testing based on their jurisdiction's normal policy.
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Wenqi,
PjM, PPD and PA have all hit the 400 administrations mark in the last couple days. Our psychometric consultants are completing the analysis on those this week. We expect the score reports for these divisions to be released the end of next week.
PDD and CE are just a couple days behind as these divisions should hit 400 administrations the end of this week. We are going to try and get these two divisions done by the end of next week as well but they may slip into the early part of the week of February 8th.
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Melinda,
Things are looking good for the remaining divisions' score reports to be released this coming Friday, February 5th. All remaining divisions hit the 400 administration mark as of last week so the psychometricians went to work on data analysis. The Examination Committee is meeting today to review the information and making a recommendation. The NCARB Board of Directors has called a special meeting for tomorrow to take action.
Wednesday and Thursday everything will be set up in the system to rescore all past divisions. On Thursday, NCARB will rescore all the outstanding results based on their new cut score. The candidate management system will then post the scores on Friday morning (most candidates will get their score report that day but a handful of jurisdictions may have an additional 1-day delay in the system). You should certainly hear something by Saturday at the latest.
Provisional feedback after testing for all of these remaining divisions will go live on Saturday as well.
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Laura,
When the early candidates were taking the exam over the past several weeks, the system would score each individual item as we needed to understand this item level performance as a factor in establishing the new cut score for that division. What did not happen, because there was no cut score set, is a determination of an over "pass" or "fail" decision. Now that the cut scores have been set for all remaining divisions, NCARB has entered the cut score value for each form into the system and will rescore all of the previous administrations today. This will generate a "pass" or "fail" determination that will be imported into the candidate management system tomorrow morning.
The vast majority of candidates awaiting a score will see their score on Friday. We do have a handful of jurisdictional licensing boards that have an additional one-day wait setup so the Board can review the results first. If your testing eligibilities were granted through one of those jurisdictions, your score won't post until Saturday morning.
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Tony,
PcM scores started being released last week and provisional feedback returned to testing on these divisions last week as well. We had to pause the release of PcM score reports for yesterday and today in order to get ready to import all of the remaining outstanding scores. Candidates are still seeing provisional feedback when testing on this division.
All outstanding scores will be posted tomorrow as outlined above in the response to Laura. Provisional feedback for all outstanding divisions returns on Saturday morning.
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Michael,
The process regarding establishing the cut scores has been shared with the various stakeholders via ARE Updates and the NCARB Blog. Along with that, we support further engagement on specific topics of interest such as day-to-day updates on the cut score through our customer service and threads like this one on the community.
This approach is not random, it is flexible and allows candidates to engage at various levels depending on their interests in different subjects. The multifaceted approach does the opposite of what you propose - it allows candidates to get the correct answer to questions they have from the source, NCARB
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NCARB -
I agree with Michael - the amount that has been shared with test takers via direct communication has been disappointingly minimal. We shouldn't have to hunt through community posts to find information about cut score updates. When all tests reached 400 an email should have been sent out and when you established scores would be released Friday another email should have been sent out. We are in the dark about a process that we invest a lot of time and money in to. It is your job to be transparent about timeline in this cut score process and you should be doing a much better job.
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I agree with Michael and Jennifer...I am waiting for the score report for my final two exams and it has been stressful not knowing when I would find out if I have passed or not. I only happened to click on this post yesterday and see these updates. I was expecting another email as soon as the 400 test mark had been reached (not just "early-february") so that I could at least have peace of mind as to when I would find out.
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Jennifer,
Thanks for the feedback. NCARB continues to calibrate the number of communications distributed to candidates via various channels. Greater amounts of recent feedback from candidates have been that NCARB sends too many emails. We have also seen an uptick in candidates unsubscribing from email communications which reinforces what we have heard about "too many". Unsubscribing is the worst thing that can happen as then candidates are going to miss key updates.
NCARB could look into ways to either post direct messages into your Record, allow for opt-in messaging on various topics, etc. that could allow us to push things to those wanting more but not overwhelming the whole of the candidate population. Thanks.
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NCARB - I can understand people complaining about too many emails for general information and helpful hints etc. but when you are changing the entire way people are testing and scoring and many people are waiting on those results I can assure you people want email updates. Your response shouldn't just be to cut down on the amount of emails you send period, it should be thinking more strategically about what emails you send - such as announcing scores for those of us anxiously waiting. I naively had faith that these 5.0 updates would be a good thing and would be handled well but there has been nothing but disappointment with the tests and your lack of response/responsibility - and I know I am not the only one who thinks so
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NCARB,
In our recent, NCARB By Their Stakeholder's report, 72% of the 1,114 people we surveyed said they felt dissatisfied with NCARB's handling of 2020. I find it very hard to believe that NCARB's Stakeholders are upset with NCARB for OVER COMMUNICATING with them or being transparent about what is happening behind the scenes.
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I received a passing score for PPD at 4:34 AM. I am refreshing my exam page on my NCARB login to check. I am still awaiting PDD, but from what I understand that was one of the last divisions to be reached so I am patiently waiting. Make sure to check there first, as an email from NCARB may be delayed.
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