Result fixing by NEBOSH

stephen1974 · Post by **stephen1974** » Thu Oct 13, 2022 11:08 pm

So, rightly or wrongly, NEBOSH are result fixing their exams, in the name of "fairness" they claim.

How are they doing this? NEBOSH are adding, or subtracting, points from your score based upon how hard or how easy their exams are, according to them, so all exams level out and it is fair for everyone. That means, if they deem an exam too easy, and you have scored 54 points against a pass mark of 45, they may decide to knock 10 points off your mark, and you fail.

How is an exam determined to be too hard or too easy? well, that is the question they will not answer, but the process is done AFTER the results are in. Therefore, the only relevant factor that has changed is how many people passed or failed. Too many people pass, they see the exam as too easy and lower the scores to ensure enough people fail in order to keep their pass/fail rate within an exceptable level. Or, if not enough people passed, they will add enough point to maintain that pass/fail rate.

So, if you fail an exam, ask for a breakdown of your score, add them up, and see what you really got.

Post by **Alexis** » Thu Oct 13, 2022 11:32 pm

Hi Stephen. Is this just speculation, your own supposition, heresy etc and is there proof of this very bold statement?

Personally, I think this is too big to put out there unless you have positive proof.

As far as I am concerned, I doubt this to be the case.

stephen1974 · Post by **stephen1974** » Thu Oct 13, 2022 11:54 pm

Proof... here is their official response to my claim.

NEBOSH continually monitor pass rates for all units and qualifications and review panels are held that will look at individual questions and question papers. This is the forum for reviewing examination performance.The findings of this meeting determine whether the nominal pass mark should be adjusted. For the June 2022 FSC1 sitting, it was determined that the pass mark would be adjusted by 10 marks. Your script was originally marked at 54 and following the Results Panel Meeting, was adjusted to 44.

Our Director of Learning and Assessment also explained that when setting question papers, we try to ensure that papers for each sitting are comparable, that is, the same overall level of difficulty. In line with other examination boards, we use a combination of methods.

Firstly, we use experienced subject matter experts and assessment experts to write the paper. This takes many revisions and a review by a wider team. The desired output is a paper set at about the right level of difficulty. In estimating the level of difficulty, expert judgement is involved, including comparison with previous papers and even estimating what we think a borderline learner should be capable of for that specific paper. However, given the nature of this task, it is near impossible to get papers of identical levels of difficulty. That is why we have a second stage, which happens after the assessment has been taken by learners.

In the second stage, we look at the exam performance statistics, comments from markers and the mark schemes again. We revaluate whether the paper has indeed been harder or easier than the requiredstandard, and the reasons for this. As mentioned previously, we then adjust the pass mark accordingly for that sitting (upwards or downwards from the nominal pass mark). In most cases this is a relatively small adjustment, but sometimes we must make a larger adjustment than we expected in order to be fair to all learners who take our exams

Its the exam performance statistics that I have issue with. As I said, if the pass/fail rate doesnt fall within their predetermined perameters, they are failling people (or passing people) to hit that target statistic. The fact they keep this hidden from people and their associated training partners until after the fact and then only if someone catches them at it shows they know its dodgy as hell.

Post by **Alexis** » Fri Oct 14, 2022 12:01 am

Thank you for this update Stephen. I must say, I am shocked and had no idea this was the case.

Definitely a lot of food for thought.

It's a bit late in the evening and I need a bit of sleep, but thank you for pointing this out.

Post by **bernicarey** » Mon Oct 17, 2022 12:16 pm

So it's the NEBOSH plan for capping results, preventing 'Exam Creep' as we're always hearing about with Teenagers Examination.....

An interesting situation....

EagleBeagle · Post by **EagleBeagle** » Sat Oct 29, 2022 3:06 pm

I've always suspected something like this to be the case as when I had to repeat an exam there seemed to be no predictability in terms of performance - I left feeling I'd done well and hit all the key points based on the course notes and Examiner Report, only to be short within a 8-10% margin. When I requested (and paid extortionately for) a recheck, I was actually brought up by 8 of the 10%, but they left the 2% to ensure it was still a fail.

That said, I did enjoy my NEBOSH studies overall but hated the exams process. I've since gone the university route in terms of postgraduate qualifications and find its much more transparent in terms of assessment and marking processes. I always felt NEBOSH has lacked transparency in how the exams operate other than the sometimes truncated information in the Examiner Reports.

stephen1974 · Post by **stephen1974** » Sun Jan 08, 2023 9:23 pm

Update

NEBOSH have offered me a refund on my exam and a free re-sit.

Post by **Alexis** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 10:46 am

stephen1974 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 9:23 pm Update

NEBOSH have offered me a refund on my exam and a free re-sit.

Good Morning to you Stephen and thank you very much for this update.

Although you have been offered some "recompense" as it were, going through the re-sit wouldn't be my preferred route.

stephen1974 · Post by **stephen1974** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 3:43 pm

With the orchastrated death of NCRQ, NEBOSH has a monopoly on things again so not much choice.

Post by **Alexis** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 4:07 pm

stephen1974 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 3:43 pm With the orchastrated death of NCRQ, NEBOSH has a monopoly on things again so not much choice.

Good luck Stephen, not that I think you need luck.

stephen1974 · Post by **stephen1974** » Wed Jun 14, 2023 10:17 am

Update Time:
Got a refund - wasnt the full exam price I paid, about half, which isnt what was promised but I get the feeling the training provder ads a fee on for the exam as well.

Did the resit (well its not a resit, its a new exam) in April and just got the results back: Pass. I've e-mailed them for a brekdown of the scores as I want to see what adjustments they made and also to see what areas I was weak on.

Wasnt a great exam. Aa with the first one, vague questions, little information in the scenrio and questions that are not covered at all in the provided training material.Yes, its open book but finding specific examples about industry specific technical processes is not easy. Still, its over and done with now.

Blackstone · Post by **Blackstone** » Wed Jun 14, 2023 10:43 am

Missed this post first time round.
Congrats on the pass btw

My son did his GCSE's last year and now moved on to A-Levels.
I remember a conversation with him that the examinations boards do a similar thing.
Instead of deducting or added marks, they move the grade boundary's based on how high (or low) students score so there are not huge amounts of A and A*.
I remember saying at the time that this is totally ridiculous way of doing it!
Didn't know NEBOSH did the same.

At least you never have to go there again!

BS