No Offense.....

but I hope everyone who is taking the MPRE with me on Friday is stupid and/or didn't study and/or doesn't do well. Let me explain....

Here's the official statement of how the tests are scored: "Your scaled score is a standard score. The standard score scale ranges from 50 (low) to 150 (high). The mean (average) scaled score was established at 100, based upon the performance of the examinees who took the MPRE in March 1999.

The conversion of raw scores to scaled scores involves a statistical process that adjusts for variations in the difficulty of different forms of the examination so that any particular scaled score will represent the same level of knowledge from test to test. For instance, if a test were more difficult than previous tests, then the scaled scores on that test would be adjusted upward to account for this difference. If a test were easier than previous tests, then the scaled scores on the test would be adjusted downward to account for this difference. The purpose of these adjustments is to help ensure that no examinee is unfairly penalized (or rewarded) for taking a more (or less) difficult form of the test."

A brilliant friend of mine explained that to me, since I had no idea what it was trying to say. Basically, if as a whole, the test takers do better than the "average" spread, they will lower ALL of our scores. (They assume we did better because the test was "easier", not because we were smarter or better prepared, as a group.) If as a whole the test takers do worse, they will raise all of our scores, assuming the test was harder (and not that we are dumber than average).

Now if you don't understand that, I can only hope that you ARE taking the test on Friday!