CODESP Pre-Employment Assessment and Testing 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which component of a job analysis provides the foundation for establishing the content validity of a selection test?
- Compensation benchmarking
- Identification of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) (Correct answer)
- Organizational chart review
- Market salary surveys
Correct answer: Identification of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs)
Content validity requires demonstrating that test content represents the KSAOs identified as critical through a systematic job analysis.
Question 2: A situational judgment test (SJT) presents candidates with:
- Abstract reasoning puzzles unrelated to the job
- Hypothetical work scenarios requiring a response choice (Correct answer)
- Open-ended essay questions about career goals
- Timed arithmetic calculations
Correct answer: Hypothetical work scenarios requiring a response choice
SJTs describe realistic work situations and ask candidates to choose or rank responses, assessing judgment and decision-making relevant to the job.
Question 3: Under CODESP guidelines, a passing score (cut score) on a civil service exam should ideally be set based on:
- The score that yields the largest applicant pool
- The minimum level of knowledge or skill needed to perform the job satisfactorily (Correct answer)
- The median score of the current workforce
- The score recommended by the test vendor without modification
Correct answer: The minimum level of knowledge or skill needed to perform the job satisfactorily
Cut scores should reflect the minimum competency level required for acceptable job performance, grounded in job analysis data.
Question 4: Which federal law requires that pre-employment polygraph tests are generally prohibited for most private-sector employers?
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
- The Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) (Correct answer)
- The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
- The Privacy Act of 1974
Correct answer: The Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)
The Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) of 1988 prohibits most private employers from requiring, requesting, or using polygraph tests for pre-employment screening.
Question 5: An 'assessment center' in public-sector hiring most commonly refers to:
- A physical building where all HR functions are centralized
- A multi-method evaluation process using simulations, exercises, and trained assessors (Correct answer)
- An online portal for submitting job applications
- A government-run career counseling office
Correct answer: A multi-method evaluation process using simulations, exercises, and trained assessors
Assessment centers use multiple simulation exercises (e.g., in-basket, leaderless group discussions) evaluated by trained assessors to predict managerial or supervisory performance.
Question 6: When a test developer reports a validity coefficient of r = 0.35 for a selection test, this value indicates:
- 35% of applicants passed the test
- The test explains 35% of variance in job performance
- A moderate positive relationship between test scores and job performance (Correct answer)
- The test has a 35% error rate
Correct answer: A moderate positive relationship between test scores and job performance
A validity coefficient of r = 0.35 represents a moderate positive correlation between predictor scores and criterion performance, which is considered practically meaningful in selection research.
Question 7: The primary purpose of a 'test plan' in developing a civil service examination is to:
- Set the budget for administering the exam
- Map test items to job-relevant KSAOs with specified weights and item counts (Correct answer)
- Schedule exam administration dates
- Determine applicant eligibility criteria
Correct answer: Map test items to job-relevant KSAOs with specified weights and item counts
A test plan (or test blueprint) specifies which KSAOs will be tested, the proportion of items per area, and the difficulty distribution, ensuring systematic content coverage.
CODESP Pre-Employment Assessment and Testing 3
Which component of a job analysis provides the foundation for establishing the content validity of a selection test?