Converting your exam from paper based to computer based
Prometric has extensive experience in transitioning programs from paper-based delivery to computer-based delivery. The test development department is staffed with psychometricians who have directly participated in the research and application of methodologies to help ensure minimal impact on candidate performance during such a transition. As computer-based testing (CBT) has become extremely prolific in the last 10-15 years, the amount of industry research on the comparability between paper-based and computer-based exams has grown considerably. These sentences seem to indicate that there is or was a problem with CBT. Research has and still demonstrates that CBT is the fairest means of ensuring access, eliminating bias, such as gender bias, and eliminating proven problems in the integrity chain such as found in the printing and shipping of papers.
In migrating an examination programs, there are several steps that should be considered. Although there are a large number of individual tasks, the major activities include the following:
Evaluation of current item bank
An evaluation of the current paper-based item bank is typically done at the beginning of the project to ensure the applicability to a computer-based environment and to gather baseline statistics for future evaluation.
Modification of item presentation
If necessary, Prometric makes recommendations on individual item modifications to increase the likelihood of equitable performance on the overall exam in a computer-based environment.
Prepare a communication effort to the candidates
Prometric works with clients to ensure that an appropriate communication campaign is developed for the candidate population prior to the introduction of a new delivery model.
Prepare sample exams and/or tutorials
Prometric prepares practice exams and/or tutorials that are provided to candidate prior to a live exam to increase the comfort level of the candidate population with the test delivery model
Using the baseline data, Prometric will evaluate exam and item level performance to ensure comparability of candidate performance.
