Notice: Adaptive Testing To all CNE and CNI certification candidates: In November 1991, the Novell Testing Program will begin using computerized adaptive testing technology. The first two adaptive tests are the DOS/Microhardware Combined Test (50-15) and the Networking Technologies Test (50-80 and 50-81). Eventually, adaptive testing will be used to deliver most of Novell's certification tests. Although adaptive testing has been used by various government agencies, professional organizations and school districts for more than a decade, it is still an unfamiliar concept to most people. This memo is intended to explain adaptive testing, point out its merits and describe how adaptive testing will affect Novell tests. Adaptive Testing vs. Traditional Testing Traditional paper-and-pencil or computerized tests deliver the same set of questions to every examinee, regardless of the examinee's level of knowledge or proficiency. Your score on a traditional test depends on the number of questions you answer correctly. If you know a great deal about a topic, you can expect to answer more questions correctly than someone who knows less. Traditional tests have a long history and have proven very useful; nevertheless, a traditional test is not the most efficient way to measure your knowledge or proficiency. Imagine that you are a teacher giving an oral exam to one of your students. You might begin by asking a question of moderate difficulty. If the student answers correctly, you follow with a more difficult question; if he or she answers incorrectly, you make the next question easier. You might continue asking questions adapting the difficulty of subsequent questions based on the student's answers to earlier questions. Within a short time you would probably have a good idea of the student's level of knowledge and you would not spend time asking questions you knew were too easy or too difficult. Your judgment about the student's level of knowledge would probably not be based on the number of correct answers, but on the difficulty of the questions the student could answer correctly compared to those he or she could not. An adaptive test works something like a good oral exam. It begins by giving you a question of moderate difficulty. After you respond, the test scores your response and estimates your level of ability. It then looks for a question whose difficulty matches your presumed ability. The test presents that question, you respond, the program scores your response and revises its estimate of your ability based on the two questions given thus far. This process continues, with the program revising its estimate of your ability following each response. The estimate becomes more and more accurate with each question. The accuracy of the ability estimate is also calculated following each question. The test concludes when a) your ability is estimated with sufficient accuracy, b) the program is at least 95 percent confident that your ability score lies somewhere above the passing score, or c) the maximum number of questions is given. Your Adaptive Test Score Because an adaptive tests tailors itself to your ability, it is possible that someone who is less proficient than you would answer a similar number of questions correctly. Thus, counting the number of correct answers is not a good way to score an adaptive test. Adaptive test scores are based on the difficulty of the questions you answer correctly and incorrectly. In other words, the score is based on your ability, rather than simply the number of items you get right. Novell has adopted an ability score scale that has a minimum value of 200 and a maximum value of 800. All test scores will fall somewhere on this scale. For each test, a passing score will be established somewhere on the scale. You will pass the test if your ability score is equal to or greater than the passing score. Section Scores In the past, Novell tests have reported the percentage of questions answered correctly from each section of the test. This information has been useful, helping examinees understand their relative strengths and weaknesses. Novell adaptive tests will provide section scores as well; however, section scores will be calculated differently than they are for traditional tests because lower-ability examinees often answer as many items correctly as higher-ability examinees. When your adaptive test is finished, your final ability score will be used to estimate the number of questions you would have answered correctly, by section, if you were given all the questions in the adaptive test's item pool. These estimated section scores, while only estimates, should still be useful. The Advantages of Adaptive Testing The two main advantages of adaptive testing over traditional testing are accuracy and efficiency. Questions that are too easy or too difficult provide little information about your true ability. By minimizing the number of such questions, adaptive testing can accurately measure your ability with fewer questions, saving you valuable time. Adaptive tests are as accurate as longer traditional tests for people of average ability; for people of higher and lower ability, adaptive tests are usually even more accurate. Adaptive tests not only save you time, they can also save you from the boredom or intimidation of questions that are too easy or too hard. You should find that most of the items you receive are moderately challenging, helping to make the testing session more interesting and less stressful.