Half-exam pass ratios vs. Full-exam pass ratios

[FourKicks]

the people sitting for 5A or 5B have already passed at least one upper-level exam. the people sitting for full exam 5 are likely to have never passed an upper-level exam. so you'd expect the pool of half-exam test takers to be, on average, of slightly higher quality than those taking full exam 5, having already passed an upper-level.

does the CAS account for this when determining pass ratios?

[Ceej]

I do not know this answer, but my stance is...

There's never a "first time upper level" or "first attempt" consideration given before. Nor is there a measure to segment those that work in Reserving or Ratemaking and would therefore have an edge on folks that say work in Claims or just graduated with 4 exams and started working full-time. Why should there be any consideration for those things now?

[Vorian Atreides]

Originally Posted by FourKicks

the people sitting for 5A or 5B have already passed at least one upper-level exam. the people sitting for full exam 5 are likely to have never passed an upper-level exam. so you'd expect the pool of half-exam test takers to be, on average, of slightly higher quality than those taking full exam 5, having already passed an upper-level.

does the CAS account for this when determining pass ratios?

Why should they? The stance is basically "does the candidate know this?". Should it matter whether or not the candidate is "experienced" in determining whether they sufficiently know the material?

[FourKicks]

Originally Posted by Vorian Atreides

Why should they? The stance is basically "does the candidate know this?". Should it matter whether or not the candidate is "experienced" in determining whether they sufficiently know the material?

i wouldn't say it's that simple. if that were truly the stance, then they'd set the same pass mark every year, and if nobody hit the pass mark, they'd fail everybody because none of the candidates knew the material. but they adjust the pass mark to achieve a certain pass ratio, so factors such as a candidate's experience are, at least indirectly, taken into consideration.

what i'm really getting at is, for this exam, if the pass rate for exam 5 ends up being, say, 70%, would the pass marks for exams 5A and 5B also be 70% (i am making the assumption that exam 5 was simply 5A + 5B, though i could be wrong)? i would think the exams would have to have different pass marks, otherwise you might get some significantly different pass ratios.

if exam 5 <> exam 5A + 5B, then i retract everything above.

anyway, just thinking out loud.

[Vorian Atreides]

Originally Posted by FourKicks

i wouldn't say it's that simple. if that were truly the stance, then they'd set the same pass mark every year, and if nobody hit the pass mark, they'd fail everybody because none of the candidates knew the material. but they adjust the pass mark to achieve a certain pass ratio, so factors such as a candidate's experience are, at least indirectly, taken into consideration.

what i'm really getting at is, for this exam, if the pass rate for exam 5 ends up being, say, 70%, would the pass marks for exams 5A and 5B also be 70% (i am making the assumption that exam 5 was simply 5A + 5B, though i could be wrong)? i would think the exams would have to have different pass marks, otherwise you might get some significantly different pass ratios.

if exam 5 <> exam 5A + 5B, then i retract everything above.

anyway, just thinking out loud.

Isn't the bolded statement an assumption made on either your part or the part of the candidate population? What's the source of this information?

[crumbs in the butter]

The sum of the pass marks for 5A and 5B had better equal the pass mark for the full Exam 5.

If the sum of the pass marks for 5A and 5B is greater than that for the full Exam 5, then the CAS is basically saying "those of you who took the 1/2 exams are expected to know the material better than those who took the full exam." How could the CAS possibly justify a stance that some candidates need to know the material better than others? They cannot.

[tommie frazier]

afaik, the pass mark for a and b are added to get the overall pass mark. someone taking thw whole thing could end up 5 points shy on A, but 6 points over on B, and come through passing in total. So it goes. that happens on every subtopic as it is now.

knowing above the baseline level is just that, and doesn't take into account other things.

[FourKicks]

Originally Posted by tommie frazier

afaik, the pass mark for a and b are added to get the overall pass mark.

ah, ok.

in that case, it seems likely that the pass ratio for half-exam takers will be higher than that of full-exam takers.

[folasona]

isn't this a little bit like having a mile race, where some of the entrants have to run the whole mile by themselves, but they are competing against other entrants made up of 2-man relay teams where each person only has to run the first / last 800 meters?

interesting.

[snoo]

Originally Posted by folasona

isn't this a little bit like having a mile race, where some of the entrants have to run the whole mile by themselves, but they are competing against other entrants made up of 2-man relay teams where each person only has to run the first / last 800 meters?

interesting.

Ah. I see your point.