How often do they update the DSSTs?

[WillisF]

How often do they update DSSTs?

Because I'm planning on taking Human/Cultural Geopgraphy exams so I have been research for what to exam and I want to know if highlander's post is still useful.

[cooperalex2004]

How often do they update DSSTs?

Because I'm planning on taking Human/Cultural Geopgraphy exams so I have been research for what to exam and I want to know if highlander's post is still useful.

They have more than one version of each exam but don't regularly update them due to the costs involved in the testing process to establish scoring. That is an older exam since it doesn't have a passing score of 400 (those were updated and the scoring system was changed). I'd guess the exam is several years old but as I said they have more than one version (based on the scoring tables referencing two different exams with data used to calculate the scoring). If anyone gives you actual exam questions (which they shouldn't be doing) note that they may or may not appear on your exam. I'd say any feedback you can find is likely still relevant for that exam, good luck to you.

[WillisF]

Thanks for help! I just wanted to make sure on how much to study for it.

[clep3705]

I have helped develop many standardized exams. Exams that are given frequently to a large audience are in a perpetual state of development. The standard practice is to introduce a few new questions that aren't graded. After collecting enough statistics on the new questions, they are discarded, revised (which means they have to be revalidated), or added to the test bank as graded items. Once I was working on an old exam and I said that a question had to be removed from the test bank because it was common knowledge. The psychometrician checked and over 90% of the test takers got it right. It was discarded.

Incorrect answers choices are called distractors. The most common approach to standardized testing is to ensure that the distractors are absolutely, positively incorrect. This is how CLEP and DSST exams are done. Another approach is to have distractors that are true but not the best possible answer. That is often the case on the NCLEX.