Maxine Te¹
Darren Lee¹
1 Australian Physiotherapy Council

1. Background
The Australian Physiotherapy Council implemented a remote model of its Written Assessment in July 2020, in response to the COVID pandemic. The Written Assessment is a 120-question MCQ exam that assesses application of knowledge, ordinarily conducted in-person in a examination venue. The remote model assessments can be completed at the candidate’s home or other venue and are remotely proctored by an invigilator. 

2. Summary of work
The Council was keen to evaluate the performance of overseas qualified physiotherapists (candidates) completing the remote online assessment, to understand whether different contexts impacted assessment outcomes. Assessment outcomes (n = 1795) of candidates who had completed the remote and in-person assessments were compared. A two sample-t test was used to compare mean scores between in-person and remote assessments for candidates in the Standard Assessment Pathway. 

3. Results
The difference between mean scores of candidates in the Standard Assessment Pathway were not statistically significant (t = 0.7338, p = 0.46). 

4. Discussion
Performance of candidates in the Standard Assessment Pathway were comparable between in- person and remote assessments. The results suggest that the context of the assessment (in- person or remote) may not have an impact on candidate test performance. These results provide evidence to support the use of remote delivery in high-stakes pre-registration examinations. 

5. Conclusions
Assessment bodies can consider the use of remote delivery models where in-person assessments are unviable. 

Further research around candidate experience and satisfaction would help inform improvements to remote delivery models. There is also an opportunity to explore how the efficiency and frequency of high-stakes remote assessments can be increased to offer candidates improved access to examinations. 

References (maximum three) 

NIL