Setting the CIP v2019 Passing Score

How time flies! As I noted just about three years ago, one of the final steps in the development of any certification is setting the passing score. There is a widespread misconception that the passing score "should be" a certain score such as 70% - 75%. This is akin to setting the retention for some or all of your records at 7 years: Nobody really knows how they got there, and it's not defensible, but everyone else is doing it so it must be OK.

In order for a passing score to be defensible, it needs to be criterion-based. This is typically done through some sort of standard-setting study. There are a number of ways to do this; a common way used for certification exams is modified Angoff scoring. This is the approach we've always used to set the CIP passing score. 

The way Angoff scoring works is that subject matter experts, who themselves are representative of the target audience, take the exam in an unproctored, untimed, and unscored setting. As they go through the exam, they rate the likelihood of a candidate like them getting that question correct. The harder the question is perceived to be, the lower that percentage will be. So for example, a super-easy question might be given a 95% rating (because people still pick B accidentally instead of A), while the lowest grade, 25%, represents a pure guess on a question with 4 possible answers.

Once the SMEs finished their ratings, we had a call to discuss them. Each item had a range of ratings and we discussed the individual ratings of those items with large ranges. We looked at the complexity of the individual item, how the beta testers answered, and how well those questions discriminated - in other words, did good scorers tend to get them right, while poor scorers tend to get them wrong? SMEs were allowed to change their ratings after discussion and many did on many items. This ended up with each item having a difficulty rating and a statistical validity associated with that rating. 

We then took all the individual items and assembled the final passing score range of 56% - 64%. We then set the passing score right in the middle of that mathematically determined, defensible, range. So the final passing score for the updated CIP exam remains at 60.00%. 

But a passing score of 60% seems quite low, right? It's exactly the opposite: a 60% passing score reflects that the exam is actually pretty challenging. Had we put the passing score at, say, 70%, only about half the beta candidates would have passed, many of whom are superior candidates compared to the 5+ year candidate that the updated CIP exam is targeting. 

I hope this information underscores my, and AIIM's, continuing commitment to doing the CIP the right way, not simply throwing together a bunch of questions and setting an arbitrary passing score. Questions or comments? Ping me at jwilkins@aiim.org. 

Dani Deahl, TheVerge: Metadata is the biggest little problem plaguing the music industry

Greg Milliken, M-Files: The 3 Waves of Innovation in Information Management (and How Context is Everything)

Updated CIP Exam to Go Live June 1, 2019

Short version: If you're a CIP, you do NOT need to retake the exam (though you are welcome to!). If you are a candidate, the new exam goes live on June 1.

I'm pleased to announce that we're just about to complete the CIP exam update process and the new exam is scheduled to go live on June 1, 2019. I'll write more about the changes to the exam in another post later this week. In the meantime, what does this mean to you?

If you're a CIP. The update doesn't directly impact you. You're still a CIP as long as you renew your status. You can, of course, renew by taking the exam, either the current one or the updated one when it goes live; most CIPs maintain their status with CEUs, and the exam update doesn't directly impact that.

The CEU program is being updated slightly. As I wrote in January, we are increasing the CEU requirements from 45 over 3 years to 60. This brings the CIP in line with nearly every other information management-related certification at 20 hours per year. This is not an onerous amount, representing less than 1% of a full-time work year. As industry professionals, we've found that most CIPs complete significantly more than 20 hours a year in continuing education - you have to in order to keep up with everything!

All current CIPs will be able to complete their current renewal cycle under the current program. Subsequent renewals, and any new CIPs, will need to comply with the updated program requirements.

If you want to become a CIP. When the updated exam goes live, the current exam will be retired. That means that you have until the end of the day on May 31, 2019 to take the current exam. Any exams currently scheduled for June 1, 2019 or later will be delivered using the new exam.

We're updating the study guide and training materials right now, and plan to have them go live at the same time as the new exam. Candidates who have already purchased the current training course can send an email to certification@aiim.org and receive access to the new course materials and study guide as soon as they are available.

The current materials are still valid for 75-80% of the updated exam; metadata is still metadata, workflow is still workflow, etc. But we did add information on robotic process automation, analytics and AI, and privacy and data protection. The intent is still to cover those topics, like all topics on the exam, at the strategy/business issue/business outcome level. Candidates who don't want to wait for the updated AIIM materials can use other references to prepare including AIIM research and white papers, resources from other groups like IAPP, etc.

The AIIM website will be updated with all of the updated resources, exam blueprint, etc. when the new exam goes live on June 1. In the meantime, please direct any questions directly to me at jwilkins@aiim.org.