Water Treatment Exams
Water Treatment Exams: What’s Tripping Up Your Operators?
ABC has over 25 years of examination experience and is committed to provid¬ing quality testing services that strengthen the certification programs of its members. ABC offers both standardized and client-customized exams that are used extensively across North America and beyond. Over 400,000 candidates have taken an ABC exam since the testing program began in 1982.
ABC Examination Overview
An active technical network of volunteer subject matter experts contributes to ABC’s Testing Service. ABC has established a Validation & Examination (V&E) committee for each exam discipline. These committees provide technical support for all aspects of exam development and validation. Over 80 industry professionals serve as technical subject matter experts on ABC V&E Com¬mittees to lend their knowledge and ensure that exams consistently meet the highest industry standards.
The validation process used to develop the certification exams is critical and must not be compromised. A brief overview of ABC’s primary validation steps in developing certifi¬cation exams follows.
Job analysis – Subject matter expert work¬shops are conducted to develop national surveys identifying the tasks and capabilities required for successful job performance. The results of these surveys are used to develop the Need-to-Know (NTK) Criteria for the exams.
Item development – In order to provide a valid measurement of job performance, exam items must measure the tasks defined in the NTK. ABC provides training and guidelines to assist subject matter experts to develop effective test items. Only items that meet ABC’s specifications and that cover topics from the NTK are accepted by ABC.
Item validation – All new questions are validated by a minimum of five subject matter experts before being added to the pool of available exam questions. Valida¬tion includes the verification of each item’s technical accuracy and relevance. In addi¬tion, the subject matter experts ensure that the item has a verified reference, that the correct answer is the best answer, and the distractors are incorrect, but plausible.
Exam construction – ABC currently main¬tains an item bank of over 3,500 validated water treatment exam questions that may be used for certification exams. Each client has the option of using ABC’s standardized exams or developing customized exams.
• Standardized Exam Development: ABC holds exam workshops to develop new and improved versions of the ABC standardized exams. During these work¬shops, ABC’s V&E Committees review and select the questions that will appear on the standardized exams. The V&E Committee members are selected to ensure geographic representation of our clients in the U.S. and Canada.
• Customized Exams: The customized option allows clients to create an exam that is based on ABC’s specifications and questions but is tailored to their program’s specific technology and regu¬latory requirements. By using the ABC validation process, clients are assured that their exams are defensible.
Statistics analysis – Both exam and item statistics are periodically reviewed to ensure items are performing adequately. Through this review, items that do not meet ABC’s high standards for performance are flagged for review by the V&E Committees.
Poor Performance Topics
ABC recently completed a statistical review of current Water Treatment Certification Exams. During this analysis it was identified that operators are having the most difficulty with questions on regulations, plant process control laboratory analysis, math, and filtra¬tion.
Within the regulatory area of the exam, the topics that are proving most difficult to operators are monitoring and analytical requirements, filtration and disinfection, and control of lead and copper. Within the math area, process related math operations, such as chlorine disinfection, filtration and fluori¬dation are difficult areas.
Exam Preparation Resources
Preparation is the key to getting ready for a certification exam! The diagram on page 2 shows the primary elements that should be used to prepare for the exams. The NTK provides an overview of the exam. It identi¬fies the job tasks that will be covered, the breakdown of the percentage of questions by area on the exam, and the reference ma¬terial that was used to develop the exams.
All of ABC’s exam questions were de¬veloped by subject matter experts using approved reference manuals that are listed in the NTK. For example, the primary refer¬ences for ABC’s water treatment exams are the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Principles and Practices of Water Supply Operations Series and the California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) Water Treatment Plant Operation Series. By look¬ing at NTK, operators know what reference manuals to use to prepare for the exam.
Operators in states and provinces that use ABC exams can visit ABC’s website (www. abccert.org) to take advantage of several free resources. In addition to the NTK and listing of exam references, the website also includes the ABC Formula/Conversion Tables and sample questions. The For-mula/Conversion Tables will help opera¬tors become familiar with the formulas and conversions that are included on the exam. The sample exam questions show the type of questions covered on ABC examinations. While these questions aren’t duplicated on any exam, sample questions allow op-erators to become familiar with the exam format.
Certification program requirements, such as mandatory training and pre-qualifying candidates to sit for the exam, make a difference in operator exam performance. These different program requirements likely contribute to the variation in passing rates seen from program to program. For more information about program requirements, certification program members of ABC can view program information using the ABC Online Certification Database that is avail¬able by logging on to the Members-only page of ABC’s website.
ABC Water Treatment Exam Specifications
| Exam Level | Class I (lowest level) |
Class II | Class III |
Class IV (highest level) |
| Monitor, Evaluate and Adjust Treatment Processes | 24% | 38% | 43% | 43% |
| Laboratory Analysis | 16% | 19% | 16% | 16% |
| Evaluate Characteristics of Source Water | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Comply with Drinking Water Regulations | 20% | 15% | 15% | 15% |
| Operate and Maintain Equipment | 24% | 16% | 15% | 15% |
| Perform Security, Safety and Administrative Procedures | 11% | 7% | 6% | 6% |
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*The black dotted line in this chart is the overall average for each class of exam. In this chart, class I is designated as the lowest level and class IV is the highest level for ABC exams.
Pictured at right: Preparation is key to getting ready for a certification exam. This diagram shows the primary elements that should be used during exam preparation.
Reprinted from The Certifier, winter 2009, by permission of the Association of Boards of Certification.