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How are the State Notary Exams scored?

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Notary Exams are a scaled score, NOT a percent score.

Not all Notary questions are weighed the same; some are given more points than others.

CPS who administers the Exam has given the following clarification:

• “Candidates who take the California Notary Public Examination receive a scaled score that ranges from 0 to 100. A scaled score is a conversion of a candidate’s raw score on an examination form to a common scale used for all the examination forms. Those who pass the examination receive a scaled score between 70 and 100. Those who fail the examination receive a scaled score between 0 and 69. A scaled score is NOT a percent score and cannot be calculated by dividing the number correct by the total number of questions on the examination. Rather, a scaled score is a transformation of a raw score.
• A scaled score is used because it allows for numerical comparison between candidates, no matter which examination form the candidate received. This is important because there are multiple versions of the California Notary Public Examination. Each version of the examination may be slightly easier or more difficult than other versions. To ensure fair treatment to all candidates, the examination cut scores (i.e., pass points) are adjusted based on the difficulty of each examination form. An easier examination form will have a proportionally higher raw cut score and a more difficult examination form will have a proportionally lower raw cut score. The cut scores are derived from a statistical equating procedure. The scaled cut score is always 70, which allows the comparison of scores between candidates across the numerous versions of the examination."

Hopefully this information is helpful and provides clarity to the scoring process. Please direct your questions to the CPS office directly at 916-263-3520.

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