WHAT DO MY IBHRE-JAPANEXAMINATION SCORES MEAN?
For the IBHRE Examination administered in Japan in January 2008 there is one reported pass/faildecision score. You need a total test scale score of at least 570 to pass the IBHRE Examination
administered in the Japanese language. Scores are determined by converting the number ofquestions answered correctly (i.e., each correct question is worth the same) to a scale score that
ranges from approximately 525 to beyond 570. In this IBHRE computerized test all candidates areadministered the same number of questions. The number of questions answered correctly is taken
into account in computing the scale score.
A scale score is a transformed raw test score (the number of test questions answered correctly). The
raw score has been transformed into other measurement units, a scale score, something liketransforming height (your test performance) from centimeters (your raw score) into inches (yourscale score). To interpret any test score, a uniform frame of reference is required. Scale scoresprovide that frame of reference based on the standard adopted by the IBHRE of the amount ofknowledge necessary to pass without regard to the specific test form or version taken. A scale scoreof at least 570 is required to pass. PLEASE NOTE THAT A SCALE SCORE IS NEITHER
THE NUMBER OF QUESTIONS YOU ANSWERED CORRECTLY NOR THE
PERCENTAGE OF QUESTIONS YOU ANSWERED CORRECTLY.
The passing score was established via a systematic procedure that linked the passing score on a USbased examination to the IBHRE examination administered in the Japanese language. The decision
regarding the passing score was made by the IBHRE and was applied through statistical linking
procedures to the test you were administered.
Passing candidates receive a score report with a brief message about achieving a PASSINGSCORE; no numerical scale score is reported to passing candidates. If you receive a score reportthat says PASSING, you have mastered the IBHRE knowledge required to receive the credential at
a level judged by the IBHRE to represent competence.
Failing candidates receive a score report with one reported scale score between 525 and 569. If you
receive a score report with YOUR SCORE reported as a number, you have failed the IBHRE
Examination in the Japanese language and you must retake and pass the entire IBHRE examination
if you wish to attain the credential.
Your score tells you how far away from 570 - or passing - you are. If you receive a numerical score,
you have not mastered the knowledge and clinical skills that are required to practice IBHRE
medicine at a level judged by the IBHRE to represent competence. Your numerical score is reported
along with a diagnostic message for each of the content areas included in the examination. The fullcontent outline is provided in the following link:
http://www.ibhre.org/ExamPreparation/ContentOutlineEP.htm) OVER

The diagnostic messages are intended to help you identify content areas that contributed to yourfailing score by showing areas of strength and weakness; diagnostic subscores are not designed to beconsistent with subsequent performance; these messages are to help focus IBHRE failing candidates'
study for subsequent examination. However, it is best for failing candidates to study all content
areas. These diagnostic messages are not to be used for pass/fail determination, because they may
lead to unreliable decisions. The two IBHRE diagnostic messages are reported to failing candidates
as follows:
Message Number21

IBHRE Diagnostic Message
Your score was at or above the level of minimum competenceYour Score was below the level of minimum competence

If you were to take this IBHRE examination again, you would be administered an examination
composed of different questions and you would probably obtain a slightly different score. No test
measures performance with perfect accuracy and consistency. The content consistency of this test isabout 0.95, using an index that varies from 0.00 (no content consistency) to 1.00 (perfect content
homogeneity. This index tells you that the IBHRE examination administered in the Japanese
language measures the content consistently. If you took several different versions of the test, youwould probably obtain a number of different scores that cluster around a typical or average value
due to differences in the specific content of each test form questions. Some of your scores would behigher and some would be lower than your average score. In actual practice, you do not know youraverage score, but only your score from this administration. The "error of measurement" can beused to determine where your average score would lie, that is 68% of the time your average score
would lie somewhere within a band defined by the error of measurement. A statistical estimate ofthis variation is called the "standard error of measurement." The standard error of measurement(SEM) for reported scale scores is about two (2) points. Thus, the standard error of measurement
can be said to capture where your average score might lie by adding and subtracting it from yourobtained score on this examination (i.e., approximately + 2 points).
Further. if you were to take this IBHRE examination a second time without further study, you would
probably obtain the same pass or fail result. The estimated percentage of candidates obtaining thesame passing or failing classification each time is about 91%.
May 1, 2008