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Post by robespierre on Dec 27, 2013 17:11:40 GMT -5
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Post by 71stretch on Dec 27, 2013 17:16:59 GMT -5
I'd say we don't know. There's a minimum score now, there never was before; the LBMT is in there somewhere but doesn't make or break a score. I agree that those reported scores look like a curve, but to say anything about this time around is just another WAG. |
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Post by robespierre on Dec 27, 2013 17:50:35 GMT -5
If you're right, and I think you probably are, that's yet another maddening aspect of this whole thing. When NORs finally come out after months of waiting, we won't know whether our scores are any good, because we won't know the curve.
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Post by funkyodar on Dec 27, 2013 18:01:26 GMT -5
Not sure even knowing the overall curve would help much.
Seems to me that, once on the register, your GAL means as much as your score. A nor of 60 may be low on any overall curve and spell death if your gal was just paradise city. Butit may be top of the pack for east crapistan.
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Post by trekker on Dec 27, 2013 18:41:16 GMT -5
Funny that we still talk about grading on the curve even though all of us have finished at least one if not more advanced degrees. My spouse has to take his professional boards at least once every ten years and they have to make a minimum score, no curve involved. The score is set before the exam is administered. Of course some questions get tossed because they end up being bad questions but the necessary score is a percentage of all valid questions. And yes they are still like college students in that they hope they get a score at least one or two points higher than their friend who is taking the exam at the same time. But me thinks funky is the closest to being correct. I don't think there is a curve, just scores that land you on the register and then when a match made in OPM/ODAR land happens, you win. Remember that there were people picked up off the last register this summer whose scores were in the 40's. Not sure anyone admitted to a lower score. How OPM arrived at a minimum score for the WD and SI is unknown and will remain unknown to us unless there is a lawsuit that opens that Pandora's box.
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Post by JudgeRatty on Dec 27, 2013 19:49:22 GMT -5
I know one person who had a score in the 40s and is now an ALJ.
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Post by funkyodar on Dec 27, 2013 20:37:27 GMT -5
I know one person who had a score in the 40s and is now an ALJ. Me too |
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Post by Ace Midnight on Dec 27, 2013 20:52:43 GMT -5
I suspect that the scores will not be curved so much as they will be warped.
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Post by robespierre on Dec 29, 2013 15:05:31 GMT -5
I hear what you all are saying but the fact remains that it is better to have a high-ranking score than a low-ranking one. And it's disconcerting that we won't know what a good score is. Ah well, maybe the notice will come with some information about score distribution. (Yeah sure.)
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Post by 71stretch on Dec 29, 2013 15:35:00 GMT -5
A "good" score still has to be combined with the right GAL. Some with high scores and a small GAL will "get lucky"; others are still languishing on the current register without an offer.
As you've surmised, the NOR will not come with any info about how your score ranks among everyone else. We'll do a poll here so people can post their score (within a range) and that will give us data for about 35 percent of the list.
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fredcdobbs
Member
If you know what's good for you, you won't monkey around with Fred C. Dobbs.
Posts: 23
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Post by fredcdobbs on Dec 29, 2013 21:51:05 GMT -5
I think that's a big enough sample size to make statistically-valid inferences about the whole group, assuming (of course) that our 35 percent is sufficiently random.
Do you think there are any characteristics of persons who post on this board that would skew the grades of our sample up or down, e.g., smarter, better-looking, more technologically adept, or more obsessive-compulsive than the average examinee? And then there's the GAL factor.
More known unknowns and unknown unknowns ...
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Post by bartleby on Dec 29, 2013 22:57:13 GMT -5
From what I have seen, the biggest factor is the Agency personal interview. If you can get a highly recommend, and you have any depth to your GAL at all, they will find you a place. High score along with highly recommend will probably get you your choice city, but high score, big GAL with not recommend and you are dead in the water.. Almost totally arbitrary.. Two judges will decide your fate. They have set questions to ask, but the way you answer is interpreted by them.
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Post by moopigsdad on Dec 30, 2013 8:09:40 GMT -5
From what I have seen, the biggest factor is the Agency personal interview. If you can get a highly recommend, and you have any depth to your GAL at all, they will find you a place. High score along with highly recommend will probably get you your choice city, but high score, big GAL with not recommend and you are dead in the water.. Almost totally arbitrary.. Two judges will decide your fate. They have set questions to ask, but the way you answer is interpreted by them. Well stated bartleby. The agency interview can make or break you, in addition to your references. |
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Post by redryder on Dec 30, 2013 8:51:10 GMT -5
While no one except OPM knows how the final score is derived, there is no evidence there is a curve. You get a score on each part of the test except that logic test and they are compiled. Then if you have veteran's points, those are added to the score. I know under the old testing, the highest score the panel could give on the structured interview was 35 (7 questions x 5 points per question). But have no idea how this translated into the final score by OPM then or if the same scoring system is still used. How do I know this? I asked the OPM member of my panel when I bumped into her in the lobby after my interview.
From what I have been reading and hearing, as each of you went through the testing process, you had to make a minimum score to proceed to the next step. If this is true, some folks will be cut at step 3 due to low scores in the written demonstration/SI. The remainder should get notices with scores.
Having a high score (80+) and a wide-open GAL does give one more opportunities for interviews with SSA and other agencies. Remember if another agency is hiring off of the register, it may be looking to fill only 1 or 2 slots. A cert for that may have only 10 names on it.
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Post by sealaw90 on Dec 30, 2013 11:33:49 GMT -5
wow, 5 points per question on the SI? I don't think I ever saw that fact before, and I've done a lot of research/reading of old threads.
You know, with the addition of the SJT, we don't have any good idea on the relative weighing of each component nor what a max score is for each section. I'm tending to think that the experience assessment means less now than on previous tests and the LBMT was simply a 'beta' test and we were just guinea pigs, so there's no score for that ridiculous exercise. Just MHO, and reading the OPM announcement very closely, the LBMT is not added to final score.
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Post by moopigsdad on Dec 30, 2013 11:54:23 GMT -5
wow, 5 points per question on the SI? I don't think I ever saw that fact before, and I've done a lot of research/reading of old threads. You know, with the addition of the SJT, we don't have any good idea on the relative weighing of each component nor what a max score is for each section. I'm tending to think that the experience assessment means less now than on previous tests and the LBMT was simply a 'beta' test and we were just guinea pigs, so there's no score for that ridiculous exercise. Just MHO, and reading the OPM announcement very closely, the LBMT is not added to final score. sealaw90 I think redryder was referring to the previous testing, not the present one. I don't think there is a correlation with the SI questions counting 5 points per questions this time, especially since the number of questions was different this time. |
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Post by robespierre on Dec 30, 2013 12:07:52 GMT -5
wow, 5 points per question on the SI? I don't think I ever saw that fact before, and I've done a lot of research/reading of old threads. You know, with the addition of the SJT, we don't have any good idea on the relative weighing of each component nor what a max score is for each section. I'm tending to think that the experience assessment means less now than on previous tests and the LBMT was simply a 'beta' test and we were just guinea pigs, so there's no score for that ridiculous exercise. Just MHO, and reading the OPM announcement very closely, the LBMT is not added to final score. Oh god bless you, dear madam. |
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Post by sealaw90 on Dec 30, 2013 12:12:16 GMT -5
wow, 5 points per question on the SI? I don't think I ever saw that fact before, and I've done a lot of research/reading of old threads. You know, with the addition of the SJT, we don't have any good idea on the relative weighing of each component nor what a max score is for each section. I'm tending to think that the experience assessment means less now than on previous tests and the LBMT was simply a 'beta' test and we were just guinea pigs, so there's no score for that ridiculous exercise. Just MHO, and reading the OPM announcement very closely, the LBMT is not added to final score. sealaw90 I think redryder was referring to the previous testing, not the present one. I don't think there is a correlation with the SI questions counting 5 points per questions this time, especially since the number of questions was different this time. mpd, I know for sure redryder was referring to the previous test, but I don't remember seeing that in an older thread! I didn't want to touch the coment on the total number of SI questions, as I might get in trouble revealing such information. However, it would be interesting if the SI still accounted for over 1/3 of our final score, don't you think? |
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Post by trickbag on Dec 30, 2013 12:23:05 GMT -5
How do you conclude that LBMT won't be scored?
Final Numerical Rating: Applicants who complete all portions of the assessment process and achieve a minimum required score on both the WD and SI will be issued a final numerical rating on a scale of 1-100. The rating will be based on the scores assigned for the SJT/Writing Sample/Experience Assessment, WD/LBMT, and SI components of the exmaination with a maximum possible score of 100, excluding veterans' preference.
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Post by robespierre on Dec 30, 2013 12:41:11 GMT -5
I think that's a big enough sample size to make statistically-valid inferences about the whole group, assuming (of course) that our 35 percent is sufficiently random. Do you think there are any characteristics of persons who post on this board that would skew the grades of our sample up or down, e.g., smarter, better-looking, more technologically adept, or more obsessive-compulsive than the average examinee? And then there's the GAL factor. More known unknowns and unknown unknowns ... IMHO, yes, the posters on this board ABSOLUTELY are among the most motivated, eager, obsessed applicants and are therefore more likely to have high scores. If the median rating of folks on this board turns out to be in the 66-68 range, as it was for the last couple of test administrations, I'd wager that the median for the total pool of testakers is more like 62-65. |
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