Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1140772
W EEKLY EDITION JULY 10, 2019 What's New with the PSAI Certification Exam By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director Whether candidates are seeking CSPA or CPSP designation, they will take the same examination. Although the exam does not ask questions specific to any state law or regulation, it has been designed in a manner that can assist states with their assessment of candidate competen ce as well. What you need to know about the exam format and availability. Going forward, paper and pencil exams will be available at PSAI events as they have been in the past. Beginning in August of 2019, remote computer - based exams will also be available so that candidates and their companies can complete the process at times that may be more convenient for the firm. To ensure exam security and the integrity of certification exam activity, a local site examiner (also known as a "proctor") will need to be present at each remote exam session. Each person taking the exam will need to use his or her own computer and will be issued a specific, one - time use code for access to the exam. An outline of the exam content can be accessed from the About Certification page on the PSAI's website. In cooperation with the Ontario Association of Septic Industry Services (OASIS), a version of the exam has been developed that replaces exam items that are aligned wi th US law with those of the province of Ontario. This form of the exam will be used for examinees from Ontario taking the test remotely. The US version of the exam will be used within the United States, regardless of the origin of the examinee. There is one examination that consists of approximately 60 questions in formats including multiple choice, true/false, matching, and short answer. Of these 60 items, 50 are scored and 10 are unscored items being beta tested. Questions are drawn from a test bank in quantities for each knowledge domain that match the weighted importance of each area that was e stablished during the exam development period. The number of correct responses required to pass (the cut score) is set by the CC using methodology that establishes the minimum acceptable performance for each examination session. The CC, with and through certification staff, conducts an evaluation of each examination question and overall examinee performance in order to set the minimum number of correct it ems necessary on each examination. (Table 1) The questions on the examination for any given session are designed to be equal in difficulty level to other examination sessions to ensure a fair and consistent standard is applied to each candidate. To this e nd, scored examination questions have acceptable statistical characteristics. P AGE 10 CONTINUED ON PAGE 11