N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 4 § 67.1

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 51, December 18, 2024

Section 67.1 - Scoring of examinations

(a) The final score of each candidate in a written or oral or other test or combination of tests comprising an examination shall be reported on a scale to 100, where the score of 100 shall represent the best performance possible, expected or attained, and where the score of 70 shall represent a performance meeting the minimum needs of the position to be filled with regard to number and quality of eligibles, and where the score of 60- shall represent any score below 60.

(b) In examinations or tests in which, considering the needs of the service or the difficulty of the examination or test or other substantial factors, a sufficient number of candidates of sufficient quality achieve raw scores or weighted or corrected raw scores, as defined under this section, or some combination of such scores equivalent to 70 percent or higher of the maximum possible score, final scores shall be determined from raw scores or weighted or corrected raw scores, or some combination of such scores, on a percent basis or by an arithmetic adjustment or a series of arithmetic adjustments or by a statistical adjustment, as defined under this section, or by any combination of such adjustments such that final scores at or about 70 will approximate percent scores; provided that no candidate is failed who would pass under percent scoring, that the relative order of scores is maintained, and that the scoring adjustment used is approved by the director or assistant director of examinations and staffing services.

(c) In examinations or tests in which, considering the needs of the service or the difficulty of the examination or test or other substantial factors, an insufficient number of candidates achieve raw scores or weighted or corrected raw scores, as defined under this section, or some combination of such scores equivalent to 70 percent or higher of the maximum possible score, final scores may be determined from raw scores or weighted or corrected raw scores, or some combination of such scores, by an arithmetic adjustment or a series of arithmetic adjustments or by a statistical adjustment, as defined under this section, or by any combination of such adjustments such that more candidates are passed than would pass if final scores at or about 70 approximated percent scores; provided that the relative order of scores is maintained, that the necessary quality of eligibles is not jeopardized, and that the scoring adjustment used is approved by the administrative director, deputy administrative director, assistant administrative director or director of examinations and staffing services.

(d) Raw score. A raw score is the number of questions answered correctly in a short answer written test or the combination of examiners' ratings in an oral or performance test or the number of credit points earned or assigned in any other kind of test, or some combination of the foregoing.

(e) Part raw score. A part raw score is the raw score from a part of a test or the raw score from a test that is part of an examination.

(f) Corrected raw score. A corrected raw score is a score that has been derived from a raw score from a short answer written test by one of the following methods:

(1) Deductions for wrong answers, as distinguished from omissions, may be made from raw scores. For example, one point may be deducted from raw scores for every four wrong answers. In this case, for a 100-item test, a candidate who answered 60 questions correctly and 20 questions incorrectly and who omitted answering 20 questions would have a raw score of 60 and a corrected raw score of 55.

(2) Additions for omissions may be made to raw scores. For example, one point may be added to raw scores for every five omissions. In this case, for a 100- item test, a candidate who answered 60 questions correctly and 20 questions incorrectly and who omitted answering 20 questions would have a raw score of 60 and a corrected raw score of 64.

These methods may also be applied to part raw scores, the results of which would then be combined with raw scores or weighted or corrected raw scores from the other parts of the test or other tests in the examination.

(g) Weighted raw score. A weighted raw score is a score that has been derived from a raw score by assigning a weight other than one to one or more of the part raw scores that contribute to the raw score. For example, in a short answer written test, a weight of two may be assigned to each correct answer to a group of questions comprising the most important part of the test and all other correct answers may be assigned a weight of one each. In this case, a candidate correctly answering seven questions with a weight of two each and correctly answering 69 questions with a weight of one each would get a weighted raw score of 83. Such weights may be assigned, on the basis of job analysis or on considerations of reliability and/or validity of tests or parts of tests, uniformly for the total condidate group, or differently for candidate subgroups, if scores of such subgroups are shown to differ substantially in their relation to measures of performance.

(h) Arithmetic adjustments.

(1) An arithmetic adjustment is the adding to or subtracting from raw scores or weighted or corrected raw scores or some combination thereof or some fraction or multiple of such scores a uniform whole number or fraction or combination thereof. For example, final scores may be determined by using an equation such as:

Final score = 3R/2 + 2 1/2

where R is the raw score or the weighted or corrected raw score or some combination of such scores. In this case, a raw score of 60 would become a final score of 92.5. In another case, final scores may be determined by using an equation such as:

Final score = R/2 - 10

In this case a raw score of 180 would become a final score of 80.

(2) A series of arithmetic adjustments consists of the division of the distribution of raw scores or weighted or corrected raw scores or some combination of such scores into two or more mutually exclusive ranges of scores and applying a separate arithmetic adjustment as defined above in each range. For example, a distribution of raw scores from a 120-item test may be split so that all raw scores in the range 85 to 120 are converted to final scores by an equation such as:

Final score = R/2 + 40

and raw scores in the range 1-84 are converted to final scores by an equation such as:

Final score = R - 2

In this case a raw score of 78 would become a final score of 76 and a raw score of 100 would become a final score of 90. This would accomplish a lowering of the passing point below percent standards and at the same time would provide for more than 31 scores between 70 to 100.

(i) Statistical adjustment. A statistical adjustment is the assignment of final scores according to a predetermined form based on a statistical division of the distribution of raw scores or weighted or corrected raw scores or some combination of such scores. Examples:

(1) The raw scores or weighted or corrected raw scores or some combination of such scores of all passing candidates may be evenly distributed between 70 and 100 with the best one-sixth of eligibles assigned final scores from 95 to 100, the next one-sixth assigned final scores from 90 to 95, the next one-sixth assigned final scores from 85 to 90, the next one-sixth assigned final scores from 80 to 85, the next one-sixth assigned final scores from 75 to 80, and the lowest one-sixth assigned final scores from 70 to 75.

(2) A final passing score of 70 may be assigned to candidates attaining a mean raw score or mean weighted or corrected raw score or a mean of some combination of such scores, and a final score of 80 may be assigned to candidates attaining one standard deviation higher, etc.

(j) Any officer or employee to whom the identity and rating of one or more candidates in an examination is known shall be disqualified from recommending or approving the use of any scoring adjustment in such examination. In the event that the identity and rating of one or more candidates in an examination is known to an officer or employee whose duties and functions would otherwise involve the recommendation or approval of the use of a scoring adjustment in such examination, the duties and functions of such officer or employee with respect to the recommendations or approval of a scoring adjustment in such examination shall be assigned to another appropriate officer or employee who is not disqualified under the provision of this section.

(k) Where one of the above methods of scoring is used, the nature of the scoring adjustment shall be made known upon request to any candidate who inspects his examination paper or questions his rating.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 4 § 67.1