Experimental Vs. Curves

[shaq786]

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I was wondering if someone can just briefly clarify this and correct me on this. If a question is supposed to be an "experimental" question then I am assuming it is thrown out and there is a new total of problems your score is taken out of.

Now if there is a certain curve designated for a particular section, are points added to your number you got correct??? Is that how it works?

Does AAMC say how big curves generally are for each section?

 

[thegenius]

I was wondering if someone can just briefly clarify this and correct me on this. If a question is supposed to be an "experimental" question then I am assuming it is thrown out and there is a new total of problems your score is taken out of.

Now if there is a certain curve designated for a particular section, are points added to your number you got correct??? Is that how it works?

Does AAMC say how big curves generally are for each section?

The curve is set after they tabulate the scores, not before. That makes the statistics portable across tests.

 

[thinkpositive]

The curve is set after they tabulate the scores, not before. That makes the statistics portable across tests.

ok so does that mean they count the experimental questions too if you got those right, or do they initially calculate scores without them, and then curve it ? I'm confused 😕

 

[liverotcod]

ok so does that mean they count the experimental questions too if you got those right, or do they initially calculate scores without them, and then curve it ? I'm confused 😕

Experimental questions are not scored. They are included to determine the future viability of the question. They are not included in any score calculation.

The curve for each form is determined after the test, ignoring any experimental questions/passages, by using many years of historical data. Some questions are repeated from old exams to correlate each form to several years of data.

 

[thinkpositive]

awesome, thanks for that explanation ! 🙂 of course now you never know which ones are experimental are experimentals passages usually or could they be discretes too ? thanks.

 

[Medikit]

Real Tests Have Curves

 

[liverotcod]

Real Tests Have Curves

Actually, they're kinda chunky. The opposite of Olympic beach volleyball tests.