Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Standard setting is the process of determining what the minimum requirements are to be deemed knowledgeable, or competent to practice. In it, the items prepared for the student assessment is standardized before and/or after the student assessment process. The main objective of standard setting is to determine the cut-off score, or pass mark, of an item or a test. Aims &
Objective: Objective of the present study was to look at standard setting of summative assessment.
Materials and Methods: Present retrospective study of previous 5 years theory papers used Modified Angoff & Hofstee method.
Results: It is observed that Cut-off score of all 5 years by Modified Angoff method was set below 50% while same was set above 50% when derived using Hofstee method. Thus, the Hofstee method consistently produced more stringent passing scores than the Modified Angoff method. Study showed statistically significant difference between averages of cut-off scores obtained by the two methods. Conclusion: Study provided us with an insight regarding standard setting i.e. standard setting must be done in concert with the test development process and not be treated as a last or separate step independent of the process. It also puts emphasis on the need of variability in cut-off score in different summative examination depending on difficulty level of the paper.