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NPTE Articles

Learn more about the exam

This section includes general articles about the National Physical Therapy Exam (NPTE). In addition, we’ve added articles on the issue of cheating in academic settings.

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Setting a Passing Score
Setting a passing score involves the process by which a performance standard is established. The passing score typically reflects the test score corresponding to a desired level of performance and is used for making decisions about what level of performance is high enough for a given purpose. The passing scores established for the NPTE reflect the level of performance required to provide minimally safe and competent physical therapists (PT) and physical therapist assistants (PTAs).

Developing Content Validity: Practice Analysis to Test Content Outline
What types of knowledge need to be covered on the NPTE in order to determine if an individual is minimally competent to work as an entry-level PT or PTA? It's a key question that ultimately is answered through a process referred to as a practice analysis.

Improving the Passing Score on the National Physical Therapy Examination By Walter Erikson, moderator
Passing scores rise and fall, while reasons for sometimes startling score differences from year to year vary. Here are methods used by five schools to reverse decreasing scores.

A History of the Physical Therapy Examination by Eileen Bach, PT and John Wadsworth, PT
We are pleased to inform you that the beginning of the national physical therapy exam is way, way before our time. So we bring you a perspective of the past two-plus decades and welcome, in advance, feedback and details from any “old-timers” in the audience. This is a background painted in the broadest strokes on a national level; we are sure that on the jurisdictional level, there are many more interesting historical perspectives on the exam.

Unscrambling the Mysteries of Cut Scores by Rebecca Thomas
Want to test your understanding of variances and vagaries surrounding exam cut scores? Consider the following fictional scenario presented by Dr. Elizabeth Witt, a psychometrician with CAT*ASI, at the FSBPT 2002 Spring Education meeting in Orlando. In response to this scenario, Dr. Witt offered six alternative problematic situations for test development and scoring that might arise as a result of the scenario. Test yourself: How you would approach each situation? Then take a look at suggestions offered by Dr. Witt.

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Cheating and Your Students

Promoting Academic Integrity in the Health Sciences by Donald McCabe
Although I was originally a law-and-order candidate concerning academic integrity, I’ve learned over the past 20 years that students in general are mostly confused about issues of cheating.

A Better Way to Prevent Student Cheating by David Callahan
With some surveys finding that up to three-quarters of college students cheat, faculty and administrators are making a bigger push for integrity. What most still lack, however, is a compelling moral argument against cheating.

Data Forensics
Data forensics involves the detection of unusual test behavior. It includes statistical analyses of test-response data to identify patterns indicative of cheating and piracy. In addition to the analysis of individual item responses, data forensics may evaluate the responses from all possible pairs of examinees within and across test administration sites to assess the extent to which examinee response patterns are so similar that they may be indicative of organized cheating, or collusion.

The Tao of Test Aberrance by Dennis Maynes
"As the technological sophistication of cheaters increases, it must be met with an equal or greater improvement in our tools of detection. Better statistical measures of test aberrance will help make test security a reality." David Foster Ph.D., President, Caveon.

An Overview of NPTE Security by Mark Lane
The security of the National Physical Therapy Examination has always been of high importance. As we look at the historical documents related to the NPTE, including exam policies, security is often mentioned. Recently, however, we have had to rethink our view of security. Much as 9/11 changed how this country viewed security, the NPTE cheating episodes of 2002 made us review our own paradigms regarding security. As a result we have broadened our definitions and expanded our scope as it relates to security. We have realized that we cannot simply maintain policies related to security. Security must always be in the forefront of our minds and focus.

Stay Away from the Gray: Consequences of Cheating on the NPTE by Mark Lane
We like to presume that knowledge of right and wrong underlies our society. We expect people to be ethical in their dealings, simply because it’s the right thing to do. But there is increasing evidence that this is not always the case. Unethical behavior on the part of high-ranking executives has brought corporations to their knees.

Restoring A Culture of Honor by Margaret Monahan Hogan
Hogan, the keynote speaker at the mid-March, Spring Education Meeting of the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy in Salt Lake City, Utah, first noted that cheating is hardly new. "Cheating, she said, “has been a part of our culture since the beginning of mankind – plagiarism, copying and cheating (through) inappropriate behavior." Quoting, among others, Mark Twain, Hogan added, "Twain said, ‘What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing, he knew nobody had said it before.’ "

TESTING AND MEASUREMENT ISSUES: Psychometric Matters: our Biggest (Unspoken) Fear, Part I by Leon Gross
Cheating? Loss of test material? Scoring inaccuracies? Litigation? Sure, each of these matters rank near the top of our top ten list of fears. Cheating has rightfully become a huge concern. Perhaps the best indicator of its significance is Cizek’s comprehensive book (1999) devoted exclusively to this subject. Among his many concerns, Cizek forewarned that age-old copying has been supplemented by high technology to communicate answers.

Psychometric Matters: Our Biggest (Unspoken) Fear, Part II by Leon J Gross
So now what? With a student culture that values sharing and collaboration (much of which is good) in a broader Internet culture of global chat rooms, how can licensure boards meet this growing challenge? Here are some suggestions and a disclaimer: they do not come with a money-back guarantee.