If at First You Don’t Succeed, Retest on a Different Form

• In Event: Test Form Development and Item Exposure

Abstract

To mitigate security concerns and unfair score gains, credentialing programs routinely administer new test material to examinees retesting after an initial failing attempt. Counter-intuitively, recent research suggests that repeating the identical form does not create an unfair advantage (e.g., Geving, et. al., 2005; Raymond, et al; 2009; O’Neill, 2011). The current study builds upon this research and finds that examinees repeating the identical form are not advantaged, but may in fact have lower scores and pass rates. Additionally, when presented with items incorrectly responded to on the initial attempt, examinees 65 – 71% of the time selected the same incorrect option, suggesting repeaters are misinformed rather than uninformed. Implications for providing remediation guidance and policies for accommodating repeaters are discussed.

Authors

• Richard A. Feinberg, National Board of Medical Examiners

• Steven Arthur Haist, National Board of Medical Examiners

• Mark R. Raymond, National Board of Medical Examiners