In competency-based education, it is important to frequently evaluate the degree of competency achieved by establishing and specifying competency levels. To self-appraise one’s own competency level, one needs a simple, clear, and accurate description for each competency level. This study aimed at developing competency stages that can be used in surveys and conceptualizing clear and precise competency level descriptions. In this paper, the author intends to conceptualize a simple competency level description through a literature review. The author modified the most widely quoted competency level models—Dreyfus’ Five-stage Model and Miller’s Pyramid—and classified competency levels into the following: The Modified Dreyfus Model comprises absolute beginner, beginner, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert, while the Modified Miller Model uses the levels of knows little, knows and knows how, exercised does, selected does, experienced does, and intuitive does. The author also provided a simple and clear description of competency levels. The precise description of competency levels developed in this study is expected to be useful in determining one’s competency level in surveys.

Purpose: The Korea Medical Licensing Exam (KMLE) typically contains a large number of items. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is a difference in the cut score between evaluating all items of the exam and evaluating only some items when conducting standard-setting.Methods: We divided the item sets that appeared on 3 recent KMLEs for the past 3 years into 4 subsets of each year of 25% each based on their item content categories, discrimination index, and difficulty index. The entire panel of 15 members assessed all the items (360 items, 100%) of the year 2017. In split-half set 1, each item set contained 184 (51%) items of year 2018 and each set from split-half set 2 contained 182 (51%) items of the year 2019 using the same method. We used the modified Angoff, modified Ebel, and Hofstee methods in the standard-setting process.Results: Less than a 1% cut score difference was observed when the same method was used to stratify item subsets containing 25%, 51%, or 100% of the entire set. When rating fewer items, higher rater reliability was observed.Conclusion: When the entire item set was divided into equivalent subsets, assessing the exam using a portion of the item set (90 out of 360 items) yielded similar cut scores to those derived using the entire item set. There was a higher correlation between panelists’ individual assessments and the overall assessments.

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Purpose: This study aimed to compare the possible standard-setting methods for the Korean Radiological Technologist Licensing Examination, which has a fixed cut score, and to suggest the most appropriate method. Methods: Six radiological technology professors set standards for 250 items on the Korean Radiological Technologist Licensing Examination administered in December 2016 using the Angoff, Ebel, bookmark, and Hofstee methods. Results: With a maximum percentile score of 100, the cut score for the examination was 71.27 using the Angoff method, 62.2 using the Ebel method, 64.49 using the bookmark method, and 62 using the Hofstee method. Based on the Hofstee method, an acceptable cut score for the examination would be between 52.83 and 70, but the cut score was 71.27 using the Angoff method. Conclusion: The above results suggest that the best standard-setting method to determine the cut score would be a panel discussion with the modified Angoff or Ebel method, with verification of the rated results by the Hofstee method. Since no standard-setting method has yet been adopted for the Korean Radiological Technologist Licensing Examination, this study will be able to provide practical guidance for introducing a standard-setting process.

The properties of newly discovered polar ScFeO 3 with magnetic ordering are examined using Ab initio calculations and symmetry mode analysis. The GGA+U calculation confirms the stability of polar R3c Phase in ScFeO 3 and the pressure induced phase transition to non-polar Pnma phase.Octahedron tilting and structural properties as a function of applied pressure have been analyzed.The origin of polar phase is associated with instability of non-polar R3 � c phase and group theory using the symmetry mode analysis has been applied to understand this instability as well as the spontaneous polarization of polar R3c phase. The magnetic phase transition shows G-type AFM ordering of Fe 3+ ion within Goodenough-Kanamori theory and the possibility of magnetic spin structure has been analyzed by using energy analysis including spin canting possibility.