<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt">Hello Ezra, Bob-o, and wrenches:<br> I guess if I were to pass the exam, and if I could find my results, I would be content. However, I do have a concern that if the test is calibrated to achieve a 50% pass rate, that the problems must be made vague and confusing to cause difficulty. Here are my primary concerns.<br>- The test material did not match the study guide<br>- The most recent test seems to test us on a number of obscure OSHA facts, that do not really pertain to designing and installing solar, to keep the test difficult.<br>- With each test cycle, the candidates are told they need to study x number of hours to pass the test, but only 50% pass, so the next group has to study 2x times to pass the exam. As more folks study harder and harder to pass the test, the test
only gets harder or the pass level is raised to keep the same level of a 50% pass rate. Over time we have to study more and more obscure facts, that have less to do with solar installing and designing, and more to do with short-term memorization of unimportant material.<br> Additionally, I believe that the test contained some mistakes. One question required an analysis of two roof surfaces, and we had to find which surface would produce more power, and how much more power. However, the azimuths were listed as 'Compass' degree readings, but the provided chart gave outputs for 'True' degrees. The question did not provide the magnetic declination for the site! <br> <br><div> </div>Nick Soleil<br>Project Manager<br>Advanced Alternative Energy Solutions, LLC<br>PO Box 657<br>Petaluma, CA 94953<br>Cell: 707-321-2937<br>Office: 707-789-9537<br>Fax: 707-769-9037<div><br></div><div
style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Bob-O Schultze <bob-o@electronconnection.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Fri, April 1, 2011 9:34:51 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [RE-wrenches] NABCEP Test<br></font><br>
<meta http-equiv="x-dns-prefetch-control" content="off">Larry,<div>This also from Ezra -who, because of a bit of silliness on the part of the moderator of this list- cannot post here.</div><div><br></div><div><div>"Larry,</div><div><br></div><div>NABCEP provides test takers with a passing score and a partial breakdown of their score by exam blueprint area. It is always a bit confusing because we report only on those exam blueprint areas where there are sufficient number of questions for the information provided to be relevant. For example informing a candidate that they scored 50% in an area where there were only two questions provided little useful information but informing the same candidate that they scored 50% on an area where there are ten questions clearly informs them that this is an area where further study is required. </div><div><br></div><div>We do not provide candidates with individual questions they missed as this would have a strong
negative impact on the security of the exam. If we informed candidates on individual questions we would have to retire each exam question we did so with which would put a huge burden of developing new questions on our volunteer exam committee. It would also but a burden on the exam itself as we would be continually retiring statically field proven questions.</div><div><br></div><div>I know it is disappointing to candidates to not see the questions they missed, and if I was a candidate I'd likely be frustrated as well. I also know that it is simply not practical to do so and that our procedures are in accordance to established and recognized testing protocols. </div><div><br></div><div>Sincerely,</div><div><br></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans:
2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: medium;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: medium;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: medium;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: medium;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><div>Ezra Auerbach<br>Executive Director"<br><br><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:eauerbach@nabcep.org" target="_blank"
href="mailto:eauerbach@nabcep.org">eauerbach@nabcep.org</a></div><div><br></div><div>To which I also add to replay to your last post:</div><div>You are incorrect that 70 is always the passing grade. It can be a little lower or even a little higher depending on the difficulty of that particular test and if we have identified any questions which have proved to be unclear or ambiguous. It takes time for our testing agency to compile that data. It takes time for our test committee to re-evaluate the questions and how they were answered. Lastly, each and every Certificant (not Entry Level) testing results comes before the Board with the raw information and the recommendations of our committee for a final decision and approval of a passing score. We go to great lengths to make sure all our testing is as fair and unbiased as possible.</div><div>As Ezra points out, it would be HUGELY expensive to have to replace our question pool for every test because we
revealed the questions which you missed to you. Surely you can see that those questions would be widely circulated by the time candidates sat for the next test, making them useless.</div><div>Bob-O</div><div><br></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></span></div></div><div><div>On Apr 1, 2011, at 5:57 AM, <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:wirewiz@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:wirewiz@gmail.com">wirewiz@gmail.com</a> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;">Ezra,<div><div><br></div><div>Do you follow guidelines as to the "rights and responsibilities" of test takers. Do test takers have a right to see the questions they got wrong?</div><div><br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div
style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><div>Larry Liesner</div><div>Wirewiz</div><div>Westport, CT</div><div>Phone: 203-644-2404</div><div>Fax: 203-557-0556</div><div><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:wirewiz@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:wirewiz@gmail.com">wirewiz@gmail.com</a></div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.wire-wiz.com/">www.wire-wiz.com</a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><meta http-equiv="x-dns-prefetch-control" content="on"></div></div>
</div></body></html>