Table I. Example board grading method cont'd

DOE-HDBK-1080-97

To arrive at the area grade, count the grade assigned to the higher

importance questions twice and those of lower importance once. Therefore,

if two questions were high importance and five questions were low

importance the total number of grades averaged would be nine. Using this

method gives added weight to the higher importance questions.

An example of the grading method mentioned, using HI for high importance questions and

LO for low importance questions, is:

The trainee received the following grades from a board member; (1) 3.7 (HI);

(2) 3.4 (LO); (3) 2.8 (HI); (4) 3.8 (LO); (5) 3.7 (LO); (6) 2.9 (LO); (7) 3.6 (HI);

(8) 3.2 (LO).

Calculate the area grade average the grades in this manner:

3.7+3.7+3.4+2.8+2.8+3.8+3.7+2.9+3.6+3.6+3.2 = 37.2.

Divide 37.2 by 11 and the area grade is 3.38.

Appendix B is an example of an individual board member grading sheet (the above grading

method was used to calculate the area grade for the Theory and Abnormal Operations

areas which have high and low importance questions). The area grades are given to the

board chair to determine the overall board grade.

The oral board chair should transfer each board member's area grades to the oral board

grading sheet and calculate both the overall area grades and the final oral board grade. The

facility oral examination procedure should describe how to derive the overall area grade and

the final grade; however, the overall area grade is usually a numerical average of the grades

given by each board member in that area. Appendix C is an example of a final board

grading sheet. The final board grade is determined in this manner:

Pass; If all overall area grades are above the minimum necessary to pass.

Fail; If one or more overall area grades are below the minimum necessary to

pass the board. If any overall area grade is less than the minimum required

to pass the board, the lowest area grade becomes the grade for the board.

For example, if 3.2 is the minimum required to pass and the overall area

grades are 3.3, 3.2, and <3.2 the oral board grade would be <3.2 and be

classified as a failure.