Exam Pass Marks to be Released

[BigDawg]

http://futureactuary.soa.org/soaf/issues/2007-09-06/2.html

[ShakeNBakes]

Pass Mark Release Policy Background
Many of you probably wonder what gave rise to this historic change in CAS/CIA/SOA education and examination policy. For more than 30 years, Bruce Schobel, the SOA president-elect for 2007, has been an active volunteer serving on the education and examination committee in various roles. Throughout Bruce’s involvement with the SOA’s E&E system, he advocated for greater transparency, on the theory that unnecessary secrecy serves only to diminish confidence in the SOA’s educational system. He believed that withholding the pass marks on multiple-choice exams implied – at least to some observers – that the SOA had something to hide.

Moreover – and much more troubling – Bruce was concerned that some clever candidates (aren’t they all?) were able to discern the pass marks through various post-exam analyses, and this created a non-level playing field. The SOA has always believed that every candidate should have – or at least have the opportunity to have – exactly the same information about the SOA’s exams, and the failure to release pass marks was making that impossible.

:lol: I wonder where he got that idea.

[Bored Insomniac]

I'm curious about why the pass marks were confidential in the first place. I don't think anyone had "something to hide," but I am wondering why anyone cared enough about pass marks to make them confidential.

Maybe they thought employers would use the information to separate candidates who passed "easy exams" and "hard exams," but they did release passing percentages, so...

[Becca DeBuss]

I'm curious about why the pass marks were confidential in the first place. I don't think anyone had "something to hide," but I am wondering why anyone cared enough about pass marks to make them confidential.

Maybe they thought employers would use the information to separate candidates who passed "easy exams" and "hard exams," but they did released passing percentages, so...

And the CAS has been releasing the pass marks for awhile now. And they always release the exam after each sitting!

[bdschobel]

I'm curious about why the pass marks were confidential in the first place...Yeah, me, too -- for more than 30 years.

Bruce

[Swan]

I'm curious about why the pass marks were confidential in the first place...
Yeah, me, too -- for more than 30 years.

Bruce
Thank you for that insightful answer to Bored Insomniac's question, Mr. SOA Insider. I'm so glad that we can finally put this mystery behind us. :rolleyes:
Hey -- I'm just kidding, Bruce. :-)

[bdschobel]

Hey, if I knew the answer, I'd tell you, but I really don't. (And thanks for the spoiler!)

Bruce

[lucky_haircut]

So what is going to be the passing grade for the next administration of the FAP? Am I correct in guessing that the FAP exam has been made more difficult because the SOA felt it could no longer examine FAP learning effectively through the end-of-module exercises?

Fortunately I passed the FAP 1 exam in August, but I have to say it was quite difficult...

[bdschobel]

Exams always become more difficult as time goes by; it's in the nature of the beast, for lots of well-understood reasons. But we plan to replace FAP-1 with an "interim assessment" (modeled after the final assessment) in 2008, anyway.

Bruce

[_BullDog_]

Exams always become more difficult as time goes by; it's in the nature of the beast, for lots of well-understood reasons. But we plan to replace FAP-1 with an "interim assessment" (modeled after the final assessment) in 2008, anyway.

Bruce

Even with the overwhelming amount of students/managers who are against that idea?

[bdschobel]

We don't make important decisions by taking a poll. No Board does. Neither does the Congress. Anyway, how do you know what the "overwhelming" number of people believe?

Bruce

[will19]

Bruce, while it makes sense not to make decisions by poll, dont you think it would be worthwile to take opinions of students in considering the process.

[ShakeNBakes]

Bruce, while it makes sense not to make decisions by poll, dont you think it would be worthwile to take opinions of students in considering the process.
I do not think it would helpful to take the opinions of students. There is way too much room for biased answers. That's like asking a class full of 5th graders to decide how much homework they should get over a holiday weekend.

[will19]

Most of us are mature adults expressing our opinions. Maybe you should read some of the opinions expressed before calling us a bunch of fifth graders. If the SOA wants more people then they should try and consider aligning their views with potential actuaries.

[ShakeNBakes]

Most of us are mature adults expressing our opinions. Maybe you should read some of the opinions expressed before calling us a bunch of fifth graders. If the SOA wants more people then they should try and consider aligning their views with potential actuaries.
I never called you a fifth grader. I made an analogy to illustrate that asking for opinions from people about to go through an academic process will probably never give you an unbiased response. If given two choices to get to the same place, most people will take the easier choice.

I'm not saying your opinions should be ignored. I'm just saying that they should be taken with a grain of salt, because they will not be 100% objective.

[Kenny]

I never called you a fifth grader. I made an analogy to illustrate that asking for opinions from people about to go through an academic process will probably never give you an unbiased response. If given two choices to get to the same place, most people will take the easier choice.

I'm not saying your opinions should be ignored. I'm just saying that they should be taken with a grain of salt, because they will not be 100% objective.

No, you definetely called him a dumb, idiotic, immature fifth grader. That's what I heard. Will, you going to let him treat you like that?

:popcorn:

[ShakeNBakes]

No, you definetely called him a dumb, idiotic, immature fifth grader. That's what I heard. Will, you going to let him treat you like that?

:popcorn:
:lol: :swear:

[bdschobel]

Bruce, while it makes sense not to make decisions by poll, dont you think it would be worthwile to take opinions of students in considering the process.Perhaps. But the SOA's primary function is to determine who should carry our credentials (and, obviously, by implication, who should not). We use the best tools at our disposal to make these critically important determinations. We certainly don't ask the candidates to tell us how they would like to be evaluated.

Bruce