Understanding the cognitive processes, skills and strategies that examinees use in testing is important for construct validity and score interpretability. Although response processes evidence has long been included as an important aspect of validity (i.e., "Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests," 1999), relevant studies are…

Research on examinees' response changes on multiple-choice tests over the past 80 years has yielded some consistent findings, including that most examinees make score gains by changing answers. This study expands the research on response changes by focusing on a high-stakes admissions test--the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures…

Examinee effort can impact the validity of scores on higher education assessments. Many studies of examinee effort have briefly noted gender differences, but gender differences in test-taking effort have not been a primary focus of research. This review of the literature brings together gender-related findings regarding three measures of examinee…

Both groups show evidence of a response style biased toward the extreme right of multiple choice arrays which was, however, more reliable among the Bedouins. (Author/AM)

According to conventional wisdom, a test taker should not change his/her first response to a multiple-choice, although empirical evidence has consistently supported such changes. Quizzes for masters level students in educational measurement and evaluation showed increments due to answer changing. Low anxious students tended to make more changes…

Several possible faking predictor scores were related to a continuously measured index of faking based on differences between faked and normal records and also to a dichotomous criterion of faking on the Comrey Personality Scales (CPS). Correlational analysis revealed that a total CPS summary score best indicated fakery. (Author/BJG)

Students instructed on research findings regarding answer changing made gains comparable to those of uninstructed students when changing item responses. Most changed their answers because they rethought or reread items. Counselors should not discourage students from changing answers. (Author)

The impact of answer changing on the test scores of students studying educational statistics is investigated. The results show that students who make changes in their original responses significantly improve their overall test performance, and high-scoring students make a greater number of changes than low-scoring students. (Author/GSK)

It was hypothesized that using asterisks as attention focusing devices would cause students to read all asteriked test items more carefully and would improve test scores of undergraduate education students. Sixty-three undergraduates majoring in elementary or special education were administered a 36-item objective test. Asterisks were used to…

In a 1977 review of the literature on test answer changing, Mueller and Wasser (EJ 163 236) cited 17 studies and concluded that students changing answers on objective tests gain more points than they lost by so doing. Higher scoring students tend to gain more than do the lower scoring students. Six additional studies not reported in the Mueller…

Determines the relationship of sex, answer-changing incidence, and total score to net changes in total score resulting from changing answers, by examining the answer-changing behavior of graduate students responding to achievement test items. (Author/RC)

Effects of test-taking instruction for University of North Carolina medical students who failed end-of-year examinations were studied. The exam is compensatory and includes a number of subtests, including National Board (NB) Part I standardized subtests in pathology, pharmacology, and physiology. Students who had to repeat NB Part I subtests were…

Prepublication copies of an extensive test familiarization booklet were sent to a random sample of Scholastic Aptitude Test candidates. The booklet had little, if any, effect on test scores, but it did alter examinees' tendencies to omit questions and improved their confidence with various aspects of test taking. (Author/PN)

The beneficial effects of changing an answer on a multiple choice test were examined for elementary school students, with particular emphasis on the answer-changing behavior of minority versus non-minority groups and high-income versus low-income students. Test booklets from students in grade 2 and answer sheets from students in grades 4, 6, and 8…

Results of multiple-choice tests in educational psychology were examined to discover the effects on students' scores of changing their original answer choices after reconsideration. Eighty-six percent of the students changed one or more answers, and six out of seven students who made changes improved their scores by doing so. (Author/CTM)