- The TAs who ranked questions on Bloom’s taxonomy showed a high level of agreement. At least two of the three raters agreed on the identical Bloom’s level for 85% of the questions rated.
- There was also a high level of agreement among the three TAs who evaluated exam questions for the PES values. There is a strong association between the Weighted Bloom’s Indices and the PES values.


Results Regarding Exam Equivalence

Predicted Exam Score (PES) is a control measurement used in the introductory biology study to estimate exam equivalence. Experienced graders (teaching assistants) predict the average points students would receive on each part of every exam question, while remaining blind to the study's intent and hypotheses.

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To control for exam equivalence and difficulty, the study utilized two primary measurement methods:

* **Weighted Bloom's Index**: Summarizes the average Bloom's level of exam questions weighted by points possible. Levels 1–2 test lower-order cognitive skills, while levels 3–6 assess higher-order skills. Three experienced TAs rated the exams blindly.
* **Predicted Exam Score (PES)**: Establishes grading equivalence. Three experienced TAs (different from the Bloom's raters) predicted the average score for each part of every exam question, while remaining blind to the study's intent.

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