700/1000 not 70% What do you think of this??

MSSoftie

I just saw this video and thought it was pretty interesting. It also explains my odd scores I get sometimes. Let me know what you think. ACE Chronicles - Episode 12: 700 Does Not Equal 70% - YouTube

cyberguypr

Great find. I always had a hard time explaining to people why 700/100 doesn't mean 70%. I will point them to this form now on.

unfbilly11

This is a good find. Thank you! I was aware of the fact that 700 wasn't necessarily 70% but wasn't exactly sure why.



Now all I need to find out is what constitutes a difficult question!!

Moab

Good find thanks for the info

aaronchristenson

I have always figured that some exam questions either were worth more or some were not scored at all.

JDMurray

It's because the bottom of the scale isn't zero. If you miss all of the questions on an exam you'll get a score of 300.

Moab

OK now I have to find out if anyone knows someone that has scored 300 lol

mokaiba

Even though 700 is not 70%, it doesn't hide the fact that if you've answered at least 70% of the questions correctly that you will most likely pass. Getting past the question weights (hard/easy) is very easy. Most in the field who have studied a lot before the exam (who also have taken others) can tell when they got one of the hard ones. Myself, as an example, when I realize the question is harder than the rest, I mark it as review and look at it later. I do this to see how many 'hard' ones are in the exam. If there are 100 questions and I only marked five as hard questions to review with another five as answer later that would have left me with 90 questions I most likely answered correctly. Even if I get those remaining 10 questions wrong, I would still pass with a 700 or higher...its simple math, regardless of how they want to word it. Now, on the other hand, if you marked 20 as hard questions, you are likely to fail the exam.

unfbilly11

I don't believe that if you miss every question you still get a 300. I failed my 70-640 with a 280-something the first time and I know there were questions that I got right.

Plantwiz

It could have been that you answered questions correctly that were not scored.

And I gotta ask... a 280 something on a first attempt? Did you know or work with the subject matter beforehand? Or merely sign up blindly for an exam to see what you could score without any experience on the topic?

unfbilly11

ha! Pretty much the signed up for it without studying too much (work was paying and wanted me to take it as a benchmark). Needless to say, it was way over my head at the time.

Plantwiz

Well, not a bad gamble I would hope they used a second-shot on it, so at least you could re-test with no additional cost. Good for them for offering such an opportunity!


Perhaps, they baseline number of 300 has since changed? Both CompTIA and MS (and likely the rest) use some algorithm to score their respective exams and this topic has been discussed at great length for years...the only ones who really know are the exam vendors themselves. Everything else is speculation. The conversation has always been never to consider a percentage because that is simply not what the exam represents. The 2nd generation of CompTIA exams were a progression of weighted questions based on if the candidate answered correctly or not. So, if a question was missed the next was a lower point value, but if the question was correct, a higher point value would follow. The exam would end when the applicant answered enough questions correctly and accumulated enough points, or missed enough questions that they no longer had enough remaining questions to amass the needed points to pass. Plenty of good and bad with those type of exams. Needless to say, the 3rd generation of exams returned to a set quantity of questions for each candidate.

Study, practice, do!