J Educ Eval Health Prof.  2005 Jan;2(1):113-118.

Correlations between the scores of computerized adaptive testing, paper and pencil tests, and the Korean Medical Licensing Examination

• Kim MY
• Lee YH
• Huh S

Abstract

To evaluate the usefulness of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) in medical school, the General Examination for senior medical students was administered as a paper and pencil test (P&P) and using CAT. The General Examination is a graduate examination, which is also a preliminary examination for the Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE). The correlations between the results of the CAT and P&P and KMLE were analyzed. The correlation between the CAT and P&P was 0.8013 (p=0.000); that between the CAT and P&P was 0.7861 (p=0.000); and that between the CAT and KMLE was 0.6436 (p=0.000). Six out of 12 students with an ability estimate below 0.52 failed the KMLE. The results showed that CAT could replace P&P in medical school. The ability of CAT to predict whether students would pass the KMLE was 0.5 when the criterion of the theta value was set at -0.52 that was chosen arbitrarily for the prediction of pass or failure.

Keyword

Computerized Adaptive Testing; Item Response theory; Medical Education; Evaluation; Korean Medical Licensing Examination

MeSH Terms

Animals
Cats
Education, Medical
Humans
Licensure*
Schools, Medical
Students, Medical