SCORING AND STANDARD-SETTING WITH STANDARDIZED PATIENTS

The purpose of this study was to compare the continuous method of scor ing a performance test composed of standardized patients with a deriva tive method that assigned each examinee a dichotomous score and to exp lore the use of Angoff's method at the case level with these two scori ng methods Both scoring systems produced reasonable means and distribu tions of scores. The continuous scores were somewhat more reproducible than the dichotomous scores although neither was very reproducible. P ass rates for both scoring systems were appropriately very high and th us the reproducibility of the pass/fail decisions was also high. Regar dless of the scoring system, the application of Angoff's method report ed in this article has the advantages of efficiency and enhanced credi bility to the experts.