Want to Report Subscores? Things to Think About

Practice Area Division(s): Certification/Licensure, Education

Topic: Testing, Measurement, and Psychometrics

Session Type: Breakout

Quite often, in reporting results of a test, there is a desire to report secondary information regarding performance on specific content areas or sections of the test to supplement the total score or classification. This additional information is usually reported in the form of subscores. These subscores are meant to benefit examinees by providing them more detailed information about their performance than is found in the total score. However, oftentimes the reporting of subscores provides little, if any, additional information than is found in the total score. Or worse, sometimes the information in subscores provides misleading information to the examinee. This presentation will discuss issues related to the validity, reliability and added value of subscores, including the calculation of “augmented subscores” which has been proposed in the literature as a way to increase the reliability of subscores. Examples will be used throughout to illustrate the various points.

Presenter: Marc Gessaroli, National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME)