It was in March of 1986 that the Chicago Sun-Times reported on the latest advance in placement exams, reporting that the “standardized testing of college-level skills recently began its long-awaited shift into the realm of computers.” The new, improved approach was developed by the Educational Testing Service, along with the College Board, and was named the “Computer Adaptive Test” (CAT). Its first application was in college placement exams, testing incoming freshmen for competency in mathematics, reading and writing.
The story went on to explain that the CAT differed from the “traditional paper and pencil” placement tests, as the “new test adjusts the difficulty level of the questions to the ability of each test taker.” The test structure and design is applicable to just about any subject area, and in the years since its introduction the CAT has been adapted for use in university graduate programs, government and business.
A little history
The U.S. armed service branches were unsuccessful in their early attempts to develop “adaptive tests” using large, unwieldy, expensive and slow mainframe computers. The 1980s brought previously unimaginable power to the personal (micro) computer, and reality finally caught up with theory when the College Board unveiled its CAT Graduate Record Examination (GRE) in the latter part of the decade.
CAT is now accepted as a viable, cost-effective alternative to traditional testing. Software development firms around the world have created “templates” and “shells” with which test-givers can build unique exams without doing R&D on their own. More and more companies will be partnering with government agencies and educational institutions, both private and public, to create customized CATs for placement, grading and licensure purposes. This has opened the door for other entrepreneurs to help people prepare for CATs, and online CAT preparation is a definite growth industry.
Benefits to the test-taker
Because CAT is an entirely new testing approach, one of the most important things online CAT preparation can do is familiarize test-takers with it. One immediate benefit to test-takers is learning to recognize how the exam is tailoring itself to their personal ability levels. If, for instance, test-takers do well on an item of moderate difficulty, they will be presented next with one that is somewhat more difficult. On the other hand, if they did poorly on a question, they would get a simpler one next. This sense of “tailoring” explains why a common nickname for CAT is “tailored testing.”
Its proponents claim that CAT requires fewer test items to yield scores as accurate as old-fashioned tests. The data seem to back up this claim, and yet it is also unarguable that knowing how a test is designed, administered and graded confers a definite advantage on the test-taker. Online study and preparation, because of its efficiency and flexibility, is the perfect means to learn about CAT, and is another great benefit for busy students and professionals with no time to waste.
Who needs it?
Many graduate school programs use the GRE CAT in the application process, but medical, business and law schools normally do not require it. These schools instead use the MCAT, GMAT and LSAT, respectively. Clearly, CAT preparation can help you perform your best on the GRE test, just as it can help with the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) that’s a requirement for admission to most business schools. Further, a growing number of graduate finance and economics programs are using the GMAT during their evaluation processes.
For students and working professionals facing these hurdles, online CAT preparation is a powerful advantage. Since adaptive tests are known to provide quite accurate (and uniform) scores for test-takers, a well-designed and up-to-date preparation regimen can give test-takers a preview of how their test should turn out. Standard, “fixed” and inflexible tests, on the other hand, typically yield the most precise scores for test-takers of average ability and are much less accurate for both high- and low-achievers. Online CAT preparation can give you the confidence you need to succeed.
Other benefits
Adaptive tests can be as much as 50% shorter than “fixed” ones, with an equivalent or higher level of precision, too. This is of quite practical benefit to the well-prepared test-taker, as it can save them real, measurable time. Also, the prepared CAT test-takers know not to waste time on items that are too difficult or that are too easy. Knowing how the tests are administered and scored is a big benefit obtained by those who use online CAT preparation.
Testing organizations may, in fact, realize an economic benefit from the aforementioned time savings, as the amount and cost of test-taker “seat time” is markedly reduced. Because they are well prepared and know how the test is designed, well-prepared test-takers also benefit from the reduction of stress. In fact, the benefits to online CAT preparation are numerous, from the practical and pragmatic to the psychological and emotional.
With CAT now out of the bag and being used everywhere, it is no longer enough to know the subject matter of a test. It is now essential to know just how the test should be taken, and that’s what online CAT preparation is all about.
Cat Prep.com is dedicated to computer administered exam resources with a focus on Computer Adaptive Test preparation software and services. Visit us online for gre practice test and practice exams, GMAT practice exams, and Patent Bar.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Putting The “Help” Back Into An Online Help Desk
The discussions and debates in the business world over helping customers with real people or software – help desk staff or help desk software – just might be missing the point. The fact is, at some point in a certain number of instances, it takes a real live person to solve the problem. The challenge is not to take your employees out of the loop and force your customers to use a FAQ list or fill out a web form (ticket), it is to maximize the value, to the customer, of both online and human resources.
To that end, we will look at a few improvements you can make for both your help desk documents and your help desk personnel. The overall picture reveals a system that directs and leads customers to the fastest, least costly and most practical solution, however that can be delivered. It will begin with self-help (online resources) and, for the few most serious cases that need it, end with personal attention – and this phrase brings up an important point. The customers need to feel they are getting personal attention even from your FAQ page and your “ticketing” system, if you are using one. They need to feel secure with your process and confident in your staff’s abilities.
Better software solutions
- Help the customers help themselves: FAQ pages should be the first place you direct customers to get assistance. Perhaps the best way to develop a strong, effective FAQ is to assemble it with input from users, help desk staff and management. The list of FAQs should be comprehensive without being daunting, and cover the “percentages” by addressing issues in order from most to least likely.
- Empowerment with orderliness: Your website copy, print materials and operator scripts (for live phone calls) should all strongly encourage the customer’s use of your online “knowledge base” and/or FAQ pages.
- Self-service system: If you install some sort of “incident” or “ticketing” management system, make it customer-driven, and again empower the customers to follow up, get replies and initiate further conversations directly from the web forms to which you initially directed them.
- Easy (and simple) does it: Your FAQ and/or knowledge base need to be simple, easy to use and focused on the roughly 10% of problems accounting for almost half of the calls. If the online tools take too long to get to the solution, or otherwise misdirect customers or waste their time, they will pick up the phone and call. You want to minimize that.
Better staff solutions
- Don’t fret the metrics, but do learn from them: It is always important to develop and provide clear metrics to your help desk staff, without obsessing over them. Give your staff information on average call-handling time, average “speed-to-answer” and other aspects of their day-to-day duties. Using these metrics effectively can lead to more calls being handled by the same number of staffers, and can help even those who already were productive become even more so.
- Teach “triage”: Ensure that your help desk representatives know the difference between low- and high-priority issues, and deal with the first kind by quickly starting a ticket and getting to the next call. If your help desk staffers do not differentiate wisely among calls during busy call periods, the customers needing the most personal attention may end up waiting in the queue. Staff should not waste time on matters best handled by the customers themselves through the web resources.
- Leverage the other experts in the company: If you draft some smart (and hopefully articulate) folks from other company departments, ones who know the products and services well, you can augment your help desk staff during “crush” times. Sometimes calls will come in for weeks after new implementations or installations are done, new software versions are released and so on. You will not only have in-house back-up for any potential “call surges” but will also build team spirit and interdepartmental camaraderie that will benefit your entire firm, sometimes in unexpected ways.
- Support your local help desk: Good morale always helps “in general,” but it also boosts help desk productivity in particular. Spending “quality time” with the help desk staff may not be at the top of every CEO or CIO’s to-do list, but an investment of just half an hour or an hour can make all the difference in staff attitude. Executives, managers and supervisors all need to convey to the help desk representatives that they are important, that they are on the front lines and that they are part of the firm’s success formula. Demonstrating how much you value the team goes a long way, particularly when you believe it and even more so when it’s true!
K Alliance.com strives to set the standard in self-paced elearning programs. Visit us online for all your web based training including computer training or desktop office & soft skills. K Alliance is truly eLearning Evolved!
To that end, we will look at a few improvements you can make for both your help desk documents and your help desk personnel. The overall picture reveals a system that directs and leads customers to the fastest, least costly and most practical solution, however that can be delivered. It will begin with self-help (online resources) and, for the few most serious cases that need it, end with personal attention – and this phrase brings up an important point. The customers need to feel they are getting personal attention even from your FAQ page and your “ticketing” system, if you are using one. They need to feel secure with your process and confident in your staff’s abilities.
Better software solutions
- Help the customers help themselves: FAQ pages should be the first place you direct customers to get assistance. Perhaps the best way to develop a strong, effective FAQ is to assemble it with input from users, help desk staff and management. The list of FAQs should be comprehensive without being daunting, and cover the “percentages” by addressing issues in order from most to least likely.
- Empowerment with orderliness: Your website copy, print materials and operator scripts (for live phone calls) should all strongly encourage the customer’s use of your online “knowledge base” and/or FAQ pages.
- Self-service system: If you install some sort of “incident” or “ticketing” management system, make it customer-driven, and again empower the customers to follow up, get replies and initiate further conversations directly from the web forms to which you initially directed them.
- Easy (and simple) does it: Your FAQ and/or knowledge base need to be simple, easy to use and focused on the roughly 10% of problems accounting for almost half of the calls. If the online tools take too long to get to the solution, or otherwise misdirect customers or waste their time, they will pick up the phone and call. You want to minimize that.
Better staff solutions
- Don’t fret the metrics, but do learn from them: It is always important to develop and provide clear metrics to your help desk staff, without obsessing over them. Give your staff information on average call-handling time, average “speed-to-answer” and other aspects of their day-to-day duties. Using these metrics effectively can lead to more calls being handled by the same number of staffers, and can help even those who already were productive become even more so.
- Teach “triage”: Ensure that your help desk representatives know the difference between low- and high-priority issues, and deal with the first kind by quickly starting a ticket and getting to the next call. If your help desk staffers do not differentiate wisely among calls during busy call periods, the customers needing the most personal attention may end up waiting in the queue. Staff should not waste time on matters best handled by the customers themselves through the web resources.
- Leverage the other experts in the company: If you draft some smart (and hopefully articulate) folks from other company departments, ones who know the products and services well, you can augment your help desk staff during “crush” times. Sometimes calls will come in for weeks after new implementations or installations are done, new software versions are released and so on. You will not only have in-house back-up for any potential “call surges” but will also build team spirit and interdepartmental camaraderie that will benefit your entire firm, sometimes in unexpected ways.
- Support your local help desk: Good morale always helps “in general,” but it also boosts help desk productivity in particular. Spending “quality time” with the help desk staff may not be at the top of every CEO or CIO’s to-do list, but an investment of just half an hour or an hour can make all the difference in staff attitude. Executives, managers and supervisors all need to convey to the help desk representatives that they are important, that they are on the front lines and that they are part of the firm’s success formula. Demonstrating how much you value the team goes a long way, particularly when you believe it and even more so when it’s true!
K Alliance.com strives to set the standard in self-paced elearning programs. Visit us online for all your web based training including computer training or desktop office & soft skills. K Alliance is truly eLearning Evolved!
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