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Rohe, D. E., Barrier, P. A., Clark, M. M., Cook, D. A., Vickers, K. S., & Decker, P. A. (2006). The Benefits of Pass-Fail Grading on Stress, Mood, and Group Cohesion in Medical Students. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 81, 1443-1448.
https://doi.org/10.4065/81.11.1443

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: A Commentary on the Relationship between Pass/Fail Scoring and the Validity of Psychological and Educational Assessments: Using Medical Education as an Example

  AUTHORS: Clarence D. Kreiter

  KEYWORDS: Pass/Fail Scoring, Reliability, Validity, Educational Assessment, Medical Education, Tests

  JOURNAL NAME: Psychology, Vol.16 No.7, July 16, 2025

  ABSTRACT: Background/Introduction: There have been numerous recent initiatives within medical education to convert multi-tiered academic assessments and the grades that summarize them to a dichotomous Pass/Fail (P/F) metric. Because the validity of an assessment depends upon how it is scored, an investigation of the psychometric outcomes of converting a multi-tiered assessment to P/F is needed. Methods: The psychometric and statistical validity implications of converting multi-tiered scores and grades to P/F are examined. How P/F scoring impacts test-based learning is also considered. Results: For the multi-tiered assessments used in medical education, there will generally be a large decrease in the variance of scores after converting to P/F. Statistical calculations demonstrate that compared to multi-tiered scores, P/F scores exhibit much smaller concurrent and predictive validity correlations and significantly attenuated reliability. Because P/F scores have a limited ability to correlate with other variables and provide very little information (i.e., low score reliability) regarding performance, the necessary pre-conditions for validity are practically absent after converting medical education assessments to P/F. Further, evidence suggests that using assessments with low validity will negatively impact learning. Discussion/Conclusions: There does not appear to be a sound psychometric or educational rationale for converting multi-tiered academic assessments to P/F.