February 6, 2023—As CCO continues to improve processes and review best practices in the industry, candidates will see changes in their score reports.
Moving forward, candidates will receive a pass or fail result only rather than a numerical or percentage score. Candidates who fail exams will also receive a strength-and-weakness report to aid in their preparation to retest. This report provides performance feedback specific to the domains or content areas of the exam. The strength-and-weakness report is best utilized with the exam outline found in the candidate handbook to understand which topics should be reviewed further. Those who pass the exam will not receive a strength-and-weakness report.
Best practices in professional certification testing support pass/fail results, rather than numerical or percentage score reporting, because in part a pass is a pass. A higher score doesn’t necessarily indicate a more knowledgeable individual, as some may assume. Additionally, providing score details can lead to compromised integrity of the exam or program.
The rollout of the changes vary depending on the modality:
- Online Proctored Testing (OPT): Reports currently reflect new model.
- Event Online Testing (EOT): When launched on April 1, 2023, reports will reflect new model.
- Computer-Based Testing (CBT): Reports will reflect new model starting February 6, 2023.
- Paper-Pencil Testing (PPT): PPT will use a two-phase approach. Starting February 6, 2023, the score will be removed from the report (only pass/fail provided), but the strength-and-weakness information will be included for both pass and fail reports. CCO will only include the strength-and-weakness report on a failed PPT result report starting April 1, 2023.
- Practical Testing: PPT will also use a two-phase approach. Starting February 6, 2023, the scores will be removed from the report (only pass/fail provided), but no strength-and-weakness report will be provided for either pass or fail reports. CCO will add a strength-and-weakness report on failed practical exam result reports in 2024.