EPEC

The aim of this study was to compare the performance across three assessment formats in online test administration; Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), Short Answer Questions (SAQs) and Option Probability Theory questions (OPTs) on a sample of 276 Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students at the University of Adelaide, in order to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of these formats. Students were divided into groups according to their year of study (Fo

EPEC's Founder and Exec Director, Professor John Barnard delivered his presidential address at the IACAT Conference on 14 September 2015 in Cambridge, England. Entitled, 'Improving Precision of CAT Measures', Prof Barnard questioned dichotomous scoring (scoring only as either correct or incorrect). He suggested that a test taker may not always have 100% confidence in an answer when they have selected the correct option, and likewise, may have some knowledge of the concept bei

On July 9, 2015 we had the opportunity to showcase our approach to mitigating guessing in multiple-choice questions (MCQs) at the XIV ECP Conference in Milan, Italy. Under the overarching theme of 'Linking Technology and Psychology: feeding the mind, energy for life', we discussed the scoring of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) as widely used in assessments, with a focus on guessing. We discussed how Classical Test Theory (CTT) is traditionally used to calculate a score based

Have you ever wondered how to determine if a candidate in an exam 'guessed' their way to a good score? ​​ Now there is a way to know! Prof John Barnard, founder and exec director at EPEC has developed a new measurement paradigm, Option Probability Theory (OPT), which can highlight the confidence a candidate had in each of their answers in an exam paper. An article on OPT has been published in the American Review of Mathematics and Statistics and there is another article due t