We are introducing a new item type on our certification exams known as extended matching. Although it's new for us, it is an item type that is used frequently on medical licensure exams, and we're borrowing the idea. Here's how it works...
Several questions are written using the same set of answer choices, but the list of answer choices is "extended" to include more options than you would see for a typical multiple choice question. In other words, more than four answer choices are presented for each question. The most important piece of information that you need to know about these items is that the same answer choice could be correct for more than one question in the set, and some answer choices may not be the correct answer for any of the questions.
These items appear together on our certification exams. They are preceded by a brief introduction and instructions reminding you that an answer might be correct for more than one question or not correct for any. In some ways, this experience is similar to the experience you have when answering case study items--extended matching items with the same set of answer choices appear together on the exam because they are related to each other (i.e., they have the same set of answer choices); however, unlike our case study items, these items are not timed separately, and you can return to these items at any point until you submit the exam for scoring.
If you want to learn more about how this item type is used on other exams or to get a feel for what these items look like, see http://onlinetog.org/cgi/reprint/8/3/181.pdf
You will start seeing extended matching items on our exams as we begin rolling out this new item type. In time, they may appear on all of our exams, but we are currently investigating where they are most effective. The results of our early roll out of extended matching items will guide decisions on when and where they will be used.
Although this is something new for Microsoft certification exams based on an idea borrowed from medical exams, I hope it doesn't make you feel blue. Extended matching items are a more rigorous test of your skills and abilities than traditional multiple choice questions because they require candidates to understand under what conditions certain actions are correct and when they are not. I'm very excited about the possibilities that extended matching items adds to our item type portfolio and hope you see the value that they add to our certification program!
Hi Liberty,
Glad to see new developments in the exam process. This item type will definitely stretch the exam takers. How do you see this fitting in the overall structure of Microsoft Exams. Will it be limited to the MCITP exams (like the Best Answer item types) or even higher (i.e. Master exams)?
As a MS IT Academy trainer, I feel that this will make the certification even more unobtainable to our age group (16-19 year olds) who already struggle with preparing for the 70-680 MCTS exam.
Would love to know your thoughts.
Thanks,
Zeshan
Ver good. It will be summed up with other news about having answers based on "Best Practices" ? Where more answers are "correct" but the real answer is the "better way"?
Another thing: Will "Adapative Testing" come back?
I think the "Adapative Testing" technology a very strong way to measure knlowdge and realy certify people for two main reasons: Do not expose a lot of questions to be "stolen" for TesKings/Pass4Sure and Brandumpers (sometimes working inside the prometric centers i´m sure) and if a guy really know the subject he answers in the 1st ´shot (due to fact that adaptative testing does not get chance to come back questions)
Another thing i like about adapatative testing is the fact that exames have shorten times, so the Prometric center, in average, could put more candidates to do more testing using less time and maybe it can lower the cost of the exams
@flavioborup:
An adaptive exam MIGHT have a shorter total exam time than a standard exam, or it might not. It seems like with the time potentially varying you might have a little more difficulty booking exams unless you accept a standard duration like they have now.
As to exposing fewer of the questions, while I don't know exactly how the exam engine works I would not be surprised to discover that at least some of the breaches happen when the exam is not being taken. In other words, someone affiliated with the testing center or service obtains access to the material and the exam engine. Realistically it only has to happen once for the content to get out into the wild.
I encountered several of these questions on my Exchange 2010 TS exam last week. I remember thinking "hmm, this is a bit different" but not being overly concerned about the different format... which is a good thing as the new format didn't interfere with my ability to answer the questions.
I also noticed the new format of 4 multiple choice options, but where each option was made up of 3 or 4 bullet points. These also didn't detract from what the question was trying to establish.
Ultimately it doesn't matter what format the question is in. As long as it's concise and unambiguous, you should get it right. If you got it wrong you don't know your stuff... I failed the Exchange exam BTW, thank goodness for 2nd Shot :-)
Idea sounds good and I guesss it reduce chance by luck as in case if there are 4 answeres and if 1 is correct then give give us 25% change. I guess, would be better if I give the comment after taking an exam. Well I have been preparing two exam almost simultaneously.
Just took the 70-662 test and ran into these types of questions. How are these scored? Do you have to get both questions correct or are they scored seperately?
Hi John,
Each question is scored independently of the others, so it doesn't matter if you answer some of these questions incorrectly, you'll still get credit for the ones that you answer correctly. All of our items are currently worth one point regardless of what you have to do to answer it; note that the number of points a question is worth is subject to change, of course, as we explore more innovative approaches to measuring your knowledge.
Hi Zeshan,
I am not sure why I wasn't getting comments to this post when I signed up to recieve them, but I guess a response is better late than never...
We haven't decided if we will limit the use of this item to TS or Pro exams. Currently, you might see these items on any of our exams. We're still gathering data to determine the appropriate use for all of the innovative items that we've designed and tested this year. If we decide to limit their use by audience or certification program, I'll let you know!
As for making exams more difficult for students, it may. Remember, our certification exams are intended to measure real world experience with the technology, which, in and of itself, is likely to make exams more difficult for students and those who don't have practical experience with the technology. Just keep giving them opportunities to use the technology in real world ways, and they will get the experiences needed to pass the exam regardless of the item type used.
Hi flavioborup and OtherKevin,
Adaptive testing is a complex issue--one that most test takers don't seem to trust. Here's the deal... I can know if you are qualified or not with as few as 10 questions. Of course, it's more complicated than that--the 10 questions must be psychometrically matched to your ability level, but with a large enough item pool, the engine should be able to identify those 10 questions and determine with a small probability of error if you are qualified or not based on your answers.
Most candidates can't believe this; most say that with more items they would have demonstrated that they were qualified. Psychometrically, it has been shown repeatedly that we actually can identify unqualified candidates in a surprisingly small number of items, but the dissatisfaction resulting from this approach has actually made adaptive testing less common in the industry than you might expect.
Yes, it’s true: we’re raising our MCP exam prices for the first time in almost a decade.
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onlinetog.org/.../181.pdf
redirects me to:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/.../(ISSN)1744-4667
Over the last year, Microsoft Learning’s exam development team has been doing some really awesome