You can evaluate the performance of assessments, questions, and distractors by using the available ExamSoft reports. You can see how your questions are performing and make improvements in your questions and/or your curriculum.
Psychometrics are the mathematical statistics that can be interpreted very differently based on the purpose of the question. No single statistic can give you the entire picture of how an item should be interpreted. Likewise, there are no ideal psychometrics that are accurate for every item. The best practice is always to evaluate all pieces of information available about an item while accounting for the intention of the question.
A question that was created by the faculty member as an “easy” question may serve that specific purpose, but it has very different psychometric results than that of a question that was created to be discriminatory. Additionally, take into account any outside factors that could be influencing the statistics (including content delivery method, conflicting information given to the exam-takers, testing environment, etc.)
Lastly, always keep in mind how many exam-takers took the exam. If the number is very low, then the statistics are significantly less reliable than if it is a large group of exam-takers.
