Normalization of Marks : A Comprehensive Analysis

Normalization of Marks

A lot of exams now a days are being conducted in different slots. Conducting exams in different slots means, there will be a variation in difficulty level of the exams. To cater this issue, the Exam conducting authorities undertake a normalization process.We will be discussing about the entire process of Normalization in this article.

The Exam organizing committee will be applying a suitable normalization method to take into consideration the difficulty level variations (if any) in the question papers across different sessions.

What is Normalization ?

The normalization process is based on a simple formula and based on a few  parameters as discussed below, the  Exam organizing committee arrives at the following formula for calculating the normalized marks for the multi session papers.

Normalization mark of Jth candidate in the ithsession ij

Here,

Mij :   actual marks secured by the jthcandidate in the ith sessions

gt :  average marks of the top 0.1% of the candidates considering all sessions

Mgq : sum of mean and standard deviation marks of the candidates in the paper considering all sessions

ti :  average marks of the top 0.1% of the candidates in the ithsessions

Miq :  sum of the mean marks and standard deviation of the ithsession

Once the answers are checked and assessed, the normalized marks of a candidate will be calculated corresponding to the actual marks secured by the candidate in the examination and the Score card will be devised based on the normalized marks.

How will the difficulty level be determined for all the papers conducted in different sessions?

By analyzing density functions of that particular stream. So if we assume that the distribution of marks is denser in the region 50-60 for session 1 for a certain paper and in the same paper for session 2 it is 40-50, then in that case the session two will be considered easier.

Is the normalized marks always greater than the actual mark obtained for a relatively difficult paper when compared to other sessions of same stream?

It depends. In case a candidate has appeared for the easier session then their normalized marks will be lesser than the actual marks they had secured. Similarly, If they have appeared for the difficult session then their normalized marks will be greater than the marks they have actually secured.

How much does the difficulty level of question papers vary among different sessions of the exams?

The difficulty level does vary to a certain extend . However, the selection of candidates for a particular slot is done through a computerized random process and hence beyond the control of any individual. So the aspirants should focus on preparation for individual papers rather than worrying about the difficulty level since it is completely a matter of fate.