July 9, 2010
Contact: Kathleen Butler at 202-721-0220
WASHINGTON, DC—The National Council for Interior Design Qualification, Inc. (NCIDQ) just released the pass rates for the spring 2010 examination. Since the spring administration was the first version of the examination modified for updated content, NCIDQ set a new cut score to comply with standards in the licensing and certification examination industry.
Since the examination format and content has changed, NCIDQ is reporting scores in a new way as well. Historically, NCIDQ has provided pass rates on its total population of examinees. Beginning with the fall 2010 administration, NCIDQ will report the pass rates for first-time test takers only.
Jeff Kenney, NCIDQ’s Executive Director explains: “Most professional licensure and credentialing exams use the data about first-time test takers because this group represents the entire spectrum of candidate abilities, which provides a better snapshot of the candidate population. NCIDQ started out as a small program, and we didn’t have the luxury of developing meaningful data in the beginning; therefore we always reported data on the total candidate group. However, now that we have substantially more candidates who take the test each year, we can follow more typical protocol for this type of examination.”
| For the spring 2010 test administration the pass rates for first-time test takers are: |
| Section 1: Codes, Building Systems, Construction Standards and Contract Administration |
83% |
| Section 2: Design Application, Project Coordination and Professional Practice |
75% |
| Section 3: Interior Design Practicum |
72% |
| The pass rates for the total group of candidates who took the spring 2010 exam are: |
| Section 1: Codes, Building Systems, Construction Standards and Contract Administration |
75% |
| Section 2: Design Application, Project Coordination and Professional Practice |
65% |
| Section 3: Interior Design Practicum |
69% |
“The difference in the two groups of data illustrates that as we broaden the spectrum of abilities of the candidates, the data becomes less focused,” Kenney says. “The first-time taker data more clearly reflects the level of ability of all NCIDQ Exam candidates.”
To provide context to this information, NCIDQ has provided the pass rates for the three most recent years for the previous format of the exam for all test takers. This information was previously announced following each administration.
Because the content of all three sections of the exam changed in spring 2010, the tests listed below do not reflect candidate assessments on the current examination content. It is therefore, not valid to compare the pass rate of the previous exam with the current exam.
| Section I: Principles and Practices of Interior Design |
| Fall 2009 |
74% |
| Spring 2009 |
73% |
| Fall 2008 |
71% |
| Spring 2008 |
75% |
| Fall 2007 |
68% |
| Spring 2007 |
76% |
| Section II: Contract Documents and Administration |
| Fall 2009 |
66% |
| Spring 2009 |
71% |
| Fall 2008 |
66% |
| Spring 2008 |
69% |
| Fall 2007 |
64% |
| Spring 2007 |
68% |
| Section III: Practicum in Interior Design |
| Fall 2009 |
68% |
| Spring 2009 |
84% |
| Fall 2008 |
66% |
| Spring 2008 |
80% |
| Fall 2007 |
70% |
| Spring 2007 |
78% |
NCIDQ® is an organization of regulatory boards and provincial associations in the United States and Canada whose core purpose is to protect the health, life safety and welfare of the public by establishing standards of competence in the practice of interior design. More information about the organization may be found at www.ncidq.org.
« back to news homepage