Part III - National Board of Examiners in Optometry

Part III (Patient Care) Examination November 2000Statistical ReportNational Board of Examiners in OptometryThe sixteenth administration of the National Board's Part III (Patient Care) examination was heldon November 3-4, 2000. This was the second administration of the Part III examination in its newformat. In the April 2000 administration, a new section, PAM (Patient Assessment andManagement), replaced the VRICS (Visual Recognition and Interpretation of Clinical Signs) andPMP (Patient Management, consisting of Patient Management Problems, or PMPs) sections.Administered for the first time in 1993, the Part III examination now consists of two sections:• Clinical Skills, a practical, or performance test measuring hands-on ability inperforming a wide variety of clinical skills in the examination of live patients atfive stations• PAM, a clinical, case-oriented multiple-choice test with three test items foreach of 40 case presentations, and patient data presented in both descriptive(i.e., textual) and graphic (i.e., visual) formatThe PAM section was administered on November 3 in three test centers: Berkeley, Chicago, andPhiladelphia. The CSE section was administered on November 4 at the same three sites. Theexamination was conducted by 105 examiners, with 44 states, the District of Columbia, and theCommonwealth of Puerto Rico participating. State-prepared law examinations were administeredon November 2-3.The number of candidates (74) was the lowest in the test’s 16-administration history. Thiscontinues a pattern of increasing candidate population sizes for the “targeted” April administrationthat is taken by nearly all fourth-year, graduating students, and decreasing candidate populationsizes for the “off-cycle” administration in November. None of the candidates for the Novemberadministration received special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act.ResultsThe examination results are summarized in Table 1. This table displays the mean scores, pass-failcutoff scores, and passing and failing rates for each section, as well as for the overall Part. Figure 1provides a histogram displaying the overall Part III percentage scores.

Patient Care, 11/00 page 2Table 1: Examination Summary StatisticsDescriptive Data CSE PAMOverallPart IIIPart III Scoring Weight .65 .35Number of Points 875 471 1346Number of Candidates 82 76 74Range a 65-97 45-94 67-95Mean a 86.1 75.7 82.5Median a 86.9 76.4 83.1Standard Deviation a 6.90 9.87 6.17Pass-Fail Data bPass-Fail Score a 83.0 74.7 80.0Percent Passing a 71.6 56.6 70.3Percent Failing a 28.4 43.4 29.7a All statistics are percentages, with the range rounded to the nearest integer, the mean, median, and pass-fail datarounded to the nearest tenth, and the standard deviation rounded to the nearest hundredth. Performancestatistics are based on the number of candidates who participated in the entire Part III examination.b Based on National Board criteria, candidates pass or fail the Part only, not component sections.Reliability Data for Overall Part III ExaminationAlpha 0.97Kappa 0.68Standard Error of Measurement• for all scores 1.02• at the pass-fail cutoff score 1.35The mean scores for the CSE and PAM sections were 86.1% and 75.7%, respectively. Both meanswere considerably lower than the corresponding means for the prior April administration.However, the CSE mean was in the upper end of its historic range for off-cycle administrations.Based on recommended performance minimums, the rounded percentages of candidates attainingsection scaled scores at or above 75 were 71.6% for CSE, and 56.6% for PAM. The overall Part IIImean and pass rate were 82.5% and 70.3%, respectively. These Part data are similar to thecorresponding statistics of prior off-cycle administrations.Following standard operating procedures, two candidates were offered a special Clinical Skillsreexamination on the basis of either statistical reliability indices or a procedural/administrative

Patient Care, 11/00 page 3irregularity that might have impaired performance. This reexamination is offered at no cost to thecandidates, and the results become the official performance record for the Clinical Skills section.Of the two candidates offered the reexamination, one accepted. The revised scores of this candidateare included in this statistical report.This is the last off-cycle Part III examination to be administered in November. Beginning in 2001,the off-cycle administration will be moved forward to August. The earlier date will reduce the timethat failing candidates must wait for a complete reexamination and for entry into practice ifsuccessful on the test. The new April-August examination sequence also brings Part III in step withthe Part I and Part II sequence of the off-cycle administration being held four months after thecorresponding targeted administration. This accelerated schedule was made feasible by the shorterproduction time needed by the PAM examination, in comparison with its predecessor examinations(i.e., VRICS and PMPs).The next administration of the Part III examination will be held during April 2001.Figure 1: Distribution of Part III Percentage ScoresF r e q u e n c y26242220181614121086420 95P e r c e n t a g eS c o r e s