Performance in the Agricultural Engineer Licensure Examination: Trends, Issues and Future Direction

DF Tabbal, AC Rico, and GQ Canapi

Board of Agricultural Engineering

Outline of Presentation:• Background

• Purposes of the study

• Conceptual Framework

• Performance in the board examination

• Possible Causes of Success or Failure in the Board Examination

• Trends, Issues, and Future Direction

• Summary and Recommendations

Background

R.A. 8559 provides that all applicants for registration for the practice of agricultural engineering shall be required to undergo and pass a written technical examination.

Scope of subjects for the examination

(a) Agricultural mechanization, agricultural power, agricultural machinery and equipment, agricultural economics and agricultural business management, and agricultural marketing, (30%; for brevity, Agricultural Mechanization);

(b) Soil and water resources development and conservation, irrigation and drainage, agricultural sciences and information technology, mathematics, agricultural statistics and operations research (35%;

Soil and Water); and (c) Rural electrification, agricultural processing,

agricultural structures, agricultural engineering law, professional ethics and engineering contracts and specification (35%; Rural Electrification).

Table . Template of questions extracted for the 2009 agricultural engineer licensure examination in rural electrification. August 2009.

Degree of Difficulty Subject Areas Easy

(30%) Moderate

(40%) Difficulty

(30%)

Total

Rural Electrification (20%)

5

7

5

17

Agricultural Structures (37.5%)

10

13

9

32

Agricultural Processing (37.5%)

10

13

9

32

Allied Subjects (5%)

4

0

0

4

Total (100%) 29 33 23 85

Table 1. Performance in the Agricultural Engineer Licensure Examination. 2003-2008.

Year of Examination

Particulars

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Total Average number per year

Total Number of Examinees

418

466

490

405

462

416

2657

443

Number Passed

159

173

236

182

205

157

1112

185

Percent Passed

38.0 %

37.1%

48.0%

44.9%

44.4%

37.7%

41.8%

Background

• PRC required the 42 PRB’s under its supervision to undertake studies to understand the reasons for the low percentage passing and thus improved the standards and quality of the licensure examination.

• BoAE opted to look into the causes of success / failure in the agricultural engineer licensure examination

Purposes of the study

• What might have been the reasons for the success or failure?

• What are the factors that influenced the success or failure of the examinees?

• What remedial measures must be instituted to improve the examinee and school performance in the licensure examination?

Conceptual Framework

:----School

: Characteristics

Performance ----:

:

:----Examinee

Characteristics

Conceptual framework

Performance: institutions mean score per subject, institutional raw mean score, percent passed.

School Characteristics: Curriculum, faculty, library, and laboratory facilities; school location, number of years the professional degree has existed, etc…

Examinee Characteristics: gender distribution, percent passing rates, institutions policy on who can take the board; number of examinees, grade point average (gpa), etc.

Performances of schools in the Licensure or Board Examination

Table 2.Distribution of schools according to the total number of examinees and performances in the Board Examination in 2003-2008.

Passing Rate Total Number of Examinees

Zero %

1-9 %

10-19 %

20-29 %

30-39 %

40-49 %

50-59 %

60-69 %

70-79 %

80-89 %

90-100 %

01- 04

38,39, [X*]

40

33, 44

43 56

05-10 50 11-20 54 28 37 26 36 55 27 21-30 31 34,53 23 25,32 24 31-40 21 20 19,22 18 41-50 16 17 51-60 30 61-70 14 29 15,35 71-80 12 13 81-90 10 11 91-100 101-110 09 111-120 121-130 08 131-140 07 06 05 141-150 04 151-160 03 161-170 171-180 181-190 191-200 201-210 02 01 Total (56) 11 2 7 7 10 5 7 2 1 1 3

Causes of Failure in the Board Examination

School Characteristics:• Table 2 shows the distribution of schools

according to the number of examinees and performances. It also reflects the inherent school characteristics like the number of years that they have been offering the BSAE program, age of the schools, faculty profile, type of school, curriculum, library, laboratory, and others.

Causes of failure in the Board Examination

School characteristics:• Based on Table 2, it can be surmised that the

variables on school characteristics like the curriculum (particularly the total number of units required), faculty profile, number of years offering the BSAE program, and others did not appear to have any direct effect on the performance in the Board Examination. .

• But, an in-depth evaluation of the syllabus of the subjects in basic sciences, basic and professional engineering subjects of the schools that were visited showed that the topics outlined for the subjects inadequately covered the topics for the licensure examination.

Table X1. Comparison of the Physics courses actually required by the School X and the CHED prescribed Physics for the BS in Agricultural Engineering (BSAE) program.

CHED Prescribed (CMO # 04, S. 2001)

School X

General Physics I. Mechanics, Heat and Thermodynamics. (3 units). 5 hrs a week (2 hrs lec, 3 hrs lab). Description: Inertia, motion, forces, and energy, properties of solids and liquids, temperature measurements and effects on properties of materials and heat flows.

Physics 105. Mechanics and Sound (3 units). 4.5 hrs a week (2 hrs lec, 2.5 hrs lab). Description: This is an introductory course on the basic properties of mechanics which include inertia, motion, forces, and energy, properties of solids and liquids, and sound waves.

Table X2. Comparison of the Physics courses actually required by the School X and the CHED prescribed Physics for the BS in Agricultural Engineering (BSAE) program.

CHED Prescribed (CMO # 04, S. 2001)

School X

General Physics II. Electricity, magnetism and wave motion. (3 units). 5 hrs a week (2 hrs lec, 3 hrs lab) Description: Sources, effects, measurements and uses of electricity and magnetism, fundamental of wave motion applied to the study of sound and light.

Physics 110. Heat and Electricity. (3 units). 4.5 hrs a week. (2 hrs lec, 2.5 hrs lab). Description: A thorough study of heat theories and temperature measurements and effect on properties of materials and heat flow, sources, effects, measurements and uses of electricity and magnetism.

Trends, Issues and Future Direction

Table 4. Overall performance rating by Subject in the Agricultural Engineer Board

Examination. (2003-2008). Year of examination

Licensure Subject

Parameters1/

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Mean

Mean

47.01

49.85

53.48

58.48

54.51

47.85

51.86

MPL 52 51 53 58 54 48 52.67

Agricultural Mechanization (30%) %passed 30.60 51.40 54.80 56.50 54.80 49.40 49.58

Mean

54.87

47.74

52.66

50.34

57.00

57.41

53.34

MPL 54 50 53 50 57 57 53.50

Soil and Water (35%)

%passed 54.10 40.90 49.80 57.00 52.20 51.30 50.88 Mean

44.16

48.14

39.30

37.86

36.63

37.60

40.66

MPL 49 51 43 42 40 42 44.50

Rural Electrification (35%) %passed 35.20 38.80 37.60 28.90 34.20 28.70 33.90 1/ Mean = mean raw score obtained by the examinees in the examination;

MPL = minimum passing level = Mean + 0.5 SD; (when the mean is lower than 50%).

SD = 1/6 (highest score – lowest score).

Table . Mean score, minimum passing level, number of examinees, and percent passing in the 2009 agricultural engineer licensure examination. August 2009.

Score Subjects Highest Lowest Mean MPL

Number of Examinees

Percent Passing

Agricultural mechanization

76

22

52.17

52

407

56.0

Soil and water resources development

80

26

54.14

54

407

50.6

Rural electrification 60 13 33.91 40 409 24.4 Overall - - - - - 29.83 .

Item Analysis of test questions

As a policy and standard practice, an item analysis of the test questions given in any examination is done.

The analysis of the 2009 test questions given revealed that easy test items (which are basic) appeared to be very difficult and non discriminating.

Sample problem

1. A load requires 3 Amperes and absorbs 48 Watts. If only 5 Ampere current source is available, what is the required resistance to be placed parallel with the load?

A. 6 Ohms C. 9 Ohms

B. 8 Ohms D. 7 Ohms

2. The bolt is used to support the (tensile) load of 3 kips (Fig 050328). Determine

its diameter d to the nearest 1/8 inch.

The allowable normal stress for the bolt

is 24 ksi.

A. 0.5 in C. 0.6 in

B. 0.4 in D. 0.7 in

3. A sample of corn has a moisture content of 11.0% on a dry basis. What is the moisture content on a wet basis?

A. 8.91 C. 9.91

B. 8.19 D. 9.19

Answers and analysis

1. Set A : Set B A = 9 Ohms (28) : A = 6 Ohms (47) B = 7 Ohms (14) : B = 8 Ohms (38) C = 8 Ohms (36) : C = 9 Ohms (26) D = 6 Ohms (42) : D = 7 Ohms (11) Total = (120): (122) FI = 29.51% : FI = 31.15% DI = 0.30 : DI = 0.23

2. Set A : Set B

A = 0.5 in (14) : A = 0.5 in (11)

B = 0.7 in (13) : B = 0.4 in (82)

C = 0.6 in (17) : C = 0.6 in (24)

D = 0.4 in (77) : D = 0.7 in (5)

Total = (121) : (122)

FI = 11.48% : FI = 9.02

DI = 0.10 : DI = 0.02 1 had a multiple answer in set A.

3. Set A : Set B

A = 8.91 (16) : A = 8.19 (10)

B = 8.19 (13) : B = 9.91 (84)

C = 9.91 (85) : C = 8.91 (19)

D = 9.19 ( 6) : D = 9.19 (7)

Total = (120) : (120)

FI = 69.67% : FI = 68.85%

DI = 0.38 : DI = 0.491 answered E and 1 had a : 2 had multiple answers

multiple answer. :

Causes of failure in the Board Examination

Examinee Characteristics

• A preliminary analysis / test of the effects of GPA on the success of the examinees in the examination was done for two sub-sample schools visited (1each from Luzon and Mindanao).

The result of the initial test showed that:

(i) examinees with GPAs above the mean (in their class) have greater chance of success than those below the mean;

(ii) those who passed have relatively higher grades in Physics than those who failed; and

(iii) examinees with high GPAs but took the examination without adequate preparation and two or more years after their graduation have a lower chance of success in the examination.

Perceived factors that contributed to the failure in Board Examination • Lack of commitment of some faculty to

teach, and inability to psychologically influence and motivate the students to seriously study;

• Lack of appropriate laboratory facilities that can be used by the students to reinforce their understanding of the principles expounded in class;

• Lack of library books, especially in professional agricultural engineering;

• Some faculty are not following the course syllabi prescribed in CMO No. 04, Series of 2001, and are not resourceful in looking fo better resources that would supplement of reinforce their lectures;

• Lack of motivation from management and inability to provide support to the faculty;

• Lack of exposure of some faculty to the real field situation – hence their failure to properly motivate their students to strive;

• Inadequate knowledge and skills of the examinees in the basic physical and engineering sciences, and in professional agricultural engineering subjects;

• Lack of time of the examinees to review and practice in problem solving which affected their ability to quickly analyze and evaluate the question(s);

• Inability of the examinees to understand and remember the theoretical and practical concepts relative to the solution of the problem;

• Failure of the examinees to adequately prepare for the examination. This could be attributed to the failure of some faculty to fully provide the basic knowledge and skills in analyzing and solving agricultural engineering problems, and /or failure of the examinee to adequately review and attend review classes for the examination;

• Inability of the examinees to make judgment and/or educational guesses through the process of elimination;

• Failure of the faculty to fully cover the topics specified in he syllabi for subjects in the board examination could have possibly contributed to the failure of the examinee.

Summary and Recommendations

1. The number of years that the school has been offering BSAE program, faculty profile and faculty size in the profession, and curriculum (number of units required for the program) do not have a direct effect on performance in the board examination.

2. The inadequate laboratory facilities and equipment in the schools offering the program could have affected what the students learned in their given subject.

3. There is lack of text books and references, particularly in professional agricultural engineering subjects in most schools.

4. Institute a faculty development program to promote and encourage attendance of faculties of agricultural engineering to graduate studies in agricultural buildings and structures, rural electrification, refrigeration engineering, including training in effective teaching.

5. There is a need for all schools concerned to institute effective coordination of faculties teaching Physics and those teaching basic engineering sciences for the development of a course syllabi that would provide an environment for a continuum in training and developing the knowledge and skills of the students.

6. The schools and faculty concerned should revisit their syllabus in the basic physical and engineering sciences and strengthen them as needed in order to develop the desired competences and skills of the students, and to provide them the basic foundation that would enable them to understand higher engineering courses.

Thank you