In our previous blog, I reviewed the research literature related to the retesting of applicants. Summarizing our findings from Part 1:

1. If someone takes a test again, his/her score will increase.
2. If a group of individuals are retested, the rank-order will change.
3. At least two months, but more realistically 6 months to a year, should be required between most retests.
4. Given a candidate is willing, there seems to be no reason to limit retests. The issues are really whether to even allow a first retest and the time between retests.
5. Under typical situations, where only a portion of the applicants may be taking the test a second time, the first administration will probably be the most valid; but there are many factors that may influence this conclusion. And, from 1 above, we would expect those taking the test a second time to have higher scores than the first time examinees.

This month, our goal is to arrive at some practical suggestions regarding practice based on professional and government guidelines, the public sector testing model, and the previously mentioned research findings in order to come up with recommendations for applied practice.  This will include a discussion of how we should determine a score for someone who is retested.  (more…)

Well, not the only question. In this blog, we will consider a series of questions including:

1. If someone takes the test again, will there score change?
2. If a group of individuals are retested, will the rank-order of the scores change?
3. How much time should there be between retests?
4. How many retests should be allowed?
5. Which test scores are the most valid for predicting performance?

My answers will be based primarily on the research literature.  However, retesting is one of those topics where the importance of the question to practitioners has far outpaced the quantity and applicability of the published research literature.

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