I’m often asked what should be a passing grade on a test? Is it 65, 75, or 85%? I think the real question should be if I don’t get 100% does it matter? Here’s the situation. You go to the doctor tomorrow. You find out that he got 90% right on all his tests in medical school. Not bad but do you have to hope you don’t have the other 10%. How about the pilot who know 85% of everything you need to know about landing a plane? Feel better?
If something is critical and you need to know it, than anything short of 100% isn’t good enough. If it isn’t critical and you don’t need to know it, why is it on the test? Maybe, so you have enough questions. I often see in call centers that how people do on the knowledge tests have very little to do with their performance on the job. Partly becuase on the job you need quick recall and the ability to do two or three other things at the same time.
In many cases, I like to replace paper and pencil testing with direct observation by an expert. They tend to know what to look for and can do the assessment very quickly.
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