Polytomous versus Dichotomous Scoring on Multiple-Choice Examinations: Development of a Rubric for Rating Partial Credit
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The Department of Chemistry seeks to provide students with a foundation in the fundamentals and application of chemical theories and processes of the lab. Thus prepared they me pursue careers as teachers, industry supervisors, or research chemists in a variety of domains (governmental, academic, etc).
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The Department of Chemistry was founded in 1880.
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1880-present
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- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
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Abstract
The concept of assigning partial credit on multiple-choice test items is considered for items from ACS Exams. Because the items on these exams, particularly the quantitative items, use common student errors to define incorrect answers, it is possible to assign partial credits to some of these incorrect responses. To do so, however, it becomes vital that instructors reach general agreement as to the level of partial credit. Using workshops with instructors, ACS Exams has identified reasons why partial credit could be assigned in an exam set of 70 test items. With partial-credit assignments thus established, polytomous scoring is applied and the effect of such scoring on the overall norm-referenced psychometrics is determined and described. While individual students move within the overall norm, the average influence of polytomous scoring as conceived by the workshops does not substantially change the ability to do norm-based comparisons.
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Reprinted (adapted) with permission from J. Chem. Educ., 2013, 90 (10), pp 1310–1315. Copyright 2013 American Chemical Society.