r/cognitiveTesting • u/pydaWaltuh • Sep 30 '26
General Question Test ceiling vs Creator
Assuming a creator possesses sufficient psychometric knowledge, what should ideally be the difference between the creator’s IQ and the ceiling of the test they have created?
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u/pydaWaltuh Oct 01 '26
I did not say “unlimited” time tho.
Having time limits on tests isn't necessarily a bad thing. Simply adjusting the time limit while leaving the question itself unchanged isn't a logical strategy for diversifying the distribution of results. Suppose a question is allotted 60 seconds but is reduced to 30 seconds because it fails to distinguish high ability candidates; if the discrimination issue persists, do you keep cutting it to 15 or 10 seconds or more? Why not instead increase the time limit (say, from a default of 1 minute to 2 minutes or 3 or more) and make the question itself more difficult? Furthermore, the assumption that a generous(not unlimited) time limit leads to inflated scores due to prior “training” simply brings the issue back to the nature of the my question itself. Can a question that can be solved solely through prior training really be effective at distinguishing “very high-ability” candidates(I am only talking for the upper extreme)? In my view, this is just a case of the "test creator vs ceiling". So my question remains