- Q. What is “score equating”?
- Q. The EJU is also offered outside of Japan. Are the same test questions used in all versions of the EJU?
- Q. Isn’t it a disadvantage for me responding to more difficult test questions if test questions by specific EJU sessions and test sites are different?
- Q. How is the scoring standards applied to the “Writing” questions in the EJU Japanese as a Foreign Language test?
Scoring, etc.
Q. What is “score equating”?
A. “Score equating” refers to the method of compensating for the differences in difficulty between the individual exams, in order to compute scores (scale points) that more accurately reflect the abilities of examinees.
For the EJU, scores remain valid for a total of two years. This means that the scores for a maximum of four exam sessions can be simultaneously used in the admission selection processes of universities and other schools. However, it is difficult to treat the difficulty level of each exam as being exactly the same. Leaving the difficulty levels unadjusted, therefore, will give examinees taking less difficult versions an advantage, leading to unfairness between examinees. To prevent this, score equating is used to adjust for the difficulty levels between different versions of the exam.
Score equating is also applied to indicate the results of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, as well as those for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the Test of English as International Communication (TOEIC) and other tests designed to measure English language skills. For further details on this, please refer to the following “Score Equating” website page.
Q. The EJU is also offered outside of Japan. Are the same test questions used in all versions of the EJU?
A. No, not all test questions are the same.
As a measure adopted to deal with time differences, security and other needs, several types of test questions are used for each subject in all sessions of the examination.
Q. Isn’t it a disadvantage for me responding to more difficult test questions if test questions by specific EJU sessions and test sites are different?
A. Every possible effort is made to prepare EJU test questions in means to prevent major gaps in difficulty by exam sessions or test sites. In addition to this, the “score equating” method is used to compute scores after compensating for the differences in difficulty between the individual exams. As a result, even if there are differences in the exam session, site or test questions, all scores (for example, scores of 80 points) may be evaluated as having the same value (in this case, 80 points). In other words, there are no advantages or disadvantages by specific EJU sessions or examination sites.
Q. How is the scoring standards applied to the “Writing” questions in the EJU Japanese as a Foreign Language test?
A. In scoring the Japanese as a Foreign Language test “Writing” section, our prescribed scoring standards are used to express scores as 0 points, 10 points, 20 points, 25 points, 30 points, 35 points, 40 points, 45 points or 50 points.
Further details on the scoring standards applied to the Japanese as a Foreign Language test “Writing” section may be confirmed at the following website.
