Standard Setting in Medical Education: Which Cut-Off Cuts it?

Authors

Jerome I. Rotgans, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeFollow
Nigel C.K. Tan, National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore

Abstract

Standard setting of exams is an important element of medical education. This is understandably so: it is difficult to qualify for medical school in the first place and once there, most assessments are high-stakes and failure rates need to be justified. As a consequence, numerous procedures have been established to determine cut-off values for exams. A cut-off value is the score of an assessment that determines who passes the exam and who does not. The cut-off in turn determines the failure rate, which is the percentage of students below the cut-off value who fail the exam.

Recommended Citation

Rotgans, Jerome I. and Tan, Nigel C.K. (2018) "Standard Setting in Medical Education: Which Cut-Off Cuts it?," Health Professions Education: Vol. 4: Iss. 4, Article 1.
DOI: 10.1016/j.hpe.2018.10.002
Available at: https://hpe.researchcommons.org/journal/vol4/iss4/1