Relations between observed item difficulty levels and Angoff minimum passing levels for a group of borderline examinees

A critical aspect of the Angoff, and related, methods of standard setting i s the conceptualization of the minimally competent or borderline examinees. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between the Ang off ratings (minimum passing levels; MPLs) and the actual p values for a gr oup of borderline examinees. The correlation between the Angoff MPLs and th e actual p values for the borderline group was.55-about the same size as th e correlation between predicted and actual p values for the total group of examinees (.51). The judges tended to over estimate values for the total gr oup: The average difference between predicted and actual p values was .12, and 61% of the differences were categorized as overestimates. In contrast, 61% of the differences between MPLs and actual p values for the borderline group were considered to be accurate.