Psychometric Properties of the Highest and the Super Composite Scores

Abstract

For students who took college admissions tests multiple times, institutions may have different policies of utilizing the multiple sets of test scores for decision making. For example, some may use the most recent, and others may use the average, the highest, or even the super composite scores by combining the highest subject test scores from each administration. Previous research on these different score use policies mainly focused on their predictive validity with little discussion about their psychometric properties. Through both theoretical and empirical investigations, this study showed how the bias, the standard error of measurement, and the reliability of scores for these different policies compare with each other and how these properties change for each score type as the number of test events increased.