Test Development Process
Each qualification cycle is commissioned in order to enable the necessary resources for each item writing team with commissioning meetings held at leadt twice a year or more frequently when required.
Content Development meetings are attended by the content development team and relate directly to non-item development but impact directly on the item writing process.
Item writers write items with peer review taking place (up to one re-write allowed on item writer's work) on each other's work to the reviewer's checklist. Once an item has been rewritten more than once it is deemed invalid. Reviewer's returns are also sampled by the test development writers, who make amendments based on feedback from the reviewer, befoore re-submission.
Once written and reviewed, items are submitted to the Qualifications Working Group (QWG) who are asked to evaluate the qualification within its totality, considering the following:
1. Appropriateness of the whole paper to the testing cohort
2. Presentation and layout of the paper
3. Appropriateness and sensitivity
The trialling phase takes place in order to ensure that items can be used in subsequent live tests.
Feedback is collected from:
1. Candidates
2. Examiners
3. Teachers/Tutors (Where Applicable)
The results of the pilot test are then shown to experts who follow LRN psychometric guidelines to measure the validity considering the content and difficulty of the item based on the pilot data, to ensure the test meets the required standards.