- Q. What is “Score Equating”?
- Q. EJU is also offered outside of Japan. Are the same test questions used in all overseas venues?
- Q. Isn’t it a disadvantage for me responding to more difficult test questions if it differs by EJU sessions and test venues?
- Q. How is the scoring standards applied to the “Writing” questions in 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 EJU, scores remain valid for a total of two years. This means that the scores for a maximum of four EJU 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 EJU.
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, please refer to the link below.
Q. EJU is also offered outside of Japan. Are the same test questions used in all overseas venues?
A. No, not all test questions are the same.
As a measure adopted to deal with time differences and security, several types of test questions are used for each subject in all sessions of EJU.
Q. Isn’t it a disadvantage for me responding to more difficult test questions if it differs by EJU sessions and test venues?
A. Every possible effort is made to prepare EJU test questions in means to prevent major gaps in difficulty by EJU sessions or test venues. In addition to this, the “Score Equating” method is used to compute scores after compensating for the differences in difficulty between the individual EJU. As a result, even if there are differences in the EJU session, venue 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 test venues.
Q. How is the scoring standards applied to the “Writing” questions in the 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, 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, or 50 points.
Further details on the scoring standards applied to the Japanese as a Foreign Language test “Writing” section may be confirmed in the link below.
