Question regarding "field trial test questions"

[libartsmgr]

I don't think Collegeboard or Chauncy Group will tell you how many field test items are on each exam. It could also vary from topic to topic. They don't want you to know how many there are because it can play mind games on you in a testing situation and they want you to treat every item as being important. You don't want to find yourself in a situation thinking you have X amount of "throw away" questions.

Also know that the score you receive is not the number you got correct. It's a scaled score. The score is based on the norms for the items that are compiled on a particular test form. Because there are many forms for each exam, it is not a fair score to say that you got a 49 and I got a 52 - which could be the difference between passing and failing - if we did not take the exact same form.

There's a lot of work that goes into field testing items. Sometimes items are found to not be valid through field testing and are thrown out before they ever count on a score. It's very bad business for these companies if mistakes are found. It can mean the difference between graduating or not or getting in to grad school or not, so they put a lot of energy in to making it right.

Probably too much information, but I hope this helps!