Abstract
IN an examination in any school subject, the maximum mark being 100, different distributions of the candidates among the hundred-and-one possible marks or percentiles are possible; different distributions are in fact found to result from two examinations of the same pupils in the same subject. The views expressed by Mr. B. C. Wallis in a privately printed pamphlet, “Mass Methods of Examining Children,” a copy of which has reached us, may be stated as three propositions, of which the first two are: (1) an examination mark is not in general a measure of the ability of the candidate, but merely a symbol by means of which the candidate's rank in order of merit can be determined; (2) in order to obtain a mark that is a measure of the candidate's ability the examiner's marks must be adjusted to an appropriate standard distribution, the same for all cases.
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Examinations and Ability. Nature 122, 1013 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/1221013a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1221013a0