Overview
Once testing concludes, the focus shifts from administration to documentation, scoring, and reporting. While these processes occur after examinees leave the testing environment, they are critical to ensuring that scores are accurate, complete, and usable by jurisdictions.
Post-exam activities should be completed promptly and carefully. Delays or inconsistencies at this stage can affect scoring timelines and create avoidable follow-up work for jurisdictions and NCBE.
Administrative Closeout
At the conclusion of each testing session, jurisdictions must complete required administrative tasks to ensure that the administration is fully documented.
This includes confirming attendance, documenting any irregularities, and ensuring that all required forms are completed and submitted.
Staff should verify
- which examinees were present, absent, or unable to complete the exam;
- that all irregularities have been recorded clearly and completely; and
- that any required reports or forms are submitted according to established procedures.
Even when issues appear minor, consistent documentation is important. These records may be reviewed later as part of scoring, examinee inquiries, or jurisdictional decision-making.
Grading and Scoring Process
The NextGen UBE uses a centralized scoring model designed to ensure consistency and comparability across jurisdictions.
Constructed responses are graded by trained graders using standardized rubrics. Jurisdictions may participate in grading, depending on their role in the process, and are responsible for ensuring that grading is completed according to established timelines and expectations.
Grading processes are designed to promote consistency. This includes
- use of common scoring rubrics;
- calibration and training for graders; and
- procedures for resolving scoring differences when they occur.
Selected-response questions are scored centrally, and all scoring data are submitted through the digital grading platform.
Score Calculation and Quality Assurance
Once grading is complete, NCBE performs the processes required to produce final scores.
These include
- equating, to ensure comparability across administrations;
- scaling, to place scores on a common reporting scale; and
- score calculation, combining performance across all components.
These processes are designed to ensure that scores are valid, reliable, and comparable, regardless of where or when an examinee tests.
Quality assurance procedures are applied throughout to identify and resolve any inconsistencies or anomalies before scores are finalized.
Score Reporting
NCBE provides official score reports to jurisdictions once scoring and quality assurance processes are complete.
Jurisdictions are responsible for
- determining passing standards;
- making admissions decisions; and
- communicating results to examinees.
Score release timelines are established in advance and should be communicated clearly to examinees.
Examinee Access to Scores
Examinees receive their scores through jurisdiction-defined processes, and jurisdictions communicate with NCBE how they would like NCBE to manage score release.
Jurisdictions may choose how scores are communicated. Once jurisdictions approve NCBE score release, examinees are able to access their score history through the Candidate Portal.