What do you mean by 'same exam'? Exactly the same questions (probably not).....equally difficult (according to whom?).....or what? Test equating is a whole field unto itself. Were the classes in the two years equivalent (how could you tell)?
Also, what do you mean by 'did better'? If the exams were equally hard, then Jon did better in the sense of knowing more (which is, at least in theory, what a test should test). OTOH, given the reality in many classes, grades are done on some sort of curve, and, then, Ron would have done better. HTH Peter Peter L. Flom, PhD Assistant Director, Statistics and Data Analysis Core Center for Drug Use and HIV Research National Development and Research Institutes 71 W. 23rd St www.peterflom.com New York, NY 10010 (212) 845-4485 (voice) (917) 438-0894 (fax) >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3/1/2004 6:53:55 PM >>> Hi I have a question for an upcoming test that I thought I might put to anyone. If Jon and Ron both sat the same exam in different years say 200 and 2001. Jon got 61 with a class average score of 60 and a standard deviation of 5 and Ron got 57 where the average was 55 and the standard deviation was 5. Who did better and why? I think that Ron did better as his score is further away from the average score. Is this right? Is there a mathematical way to express it? Thanks ben . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . ================================================================= . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
