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Comprehensive Business Exam - FBLA-PBL Flipbook PDF
The 88-item Comprehensive Business ... 3. Demonstrate an understanding of the content, concepts, structure, and meaning
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Comprehensive Business Exam® A New Measure of Collegiate Business Education
T
he Comprehensive Business Exam® 4.0 (CBE® 4.0) is a criterion-referenced exam that consists of 88 multiple-choice questions designed to assess the core business content knowledge of soon-to-graduate college seniors who will earn an undergraduate business degree. Each administration of the CBE may also include an additional four to 12 unscored items in development for future versions of the CBE. Students should ideally take the CBE during the semester of their graduation from a four-year college.
Exam Content The CBE includes questions that cover 28 objectives within the following eight content domains: • Accounting • Management • Economic Environment • Legal Environment
• Finance • Marketing • Social Environment • International Business
The 88-item Comprehensive Business Exam generally includes three multiple-choice items for each of the 28 objectives (listed below). Because of the importance of the accounting function in business, four of the five objectives in the Accounting content domain use four items rather than the normal three to assess the student’s knowledge. An additional four to 12 items on the CBE consist of unscored items that will be used to gather psychometric information on questions for future versions of the Exam. These additional unscored items do not appear on each administration of the exam; as items are developed, they are rotated into the test slots.
Objectives The 28 general business content objectives assessed by the Comprehensive Business Exam include P.O. Box 1922 • Pittsburg, Kansas 66762 • 866-277-5061 • www.techfluency.org
Comprehensive Business Exam® the following. The number of items assessing each particular objective is in brackets. (1) Accounting 1. Identify the basic financial statements and their purposes, and explain their interrelationships. [4] 2. List the effects of transactions on the elements of the accounting equations and transaction analysis. [4] 3. Demonstrate an understanding of the content, concepts, structure, and meaning of reporting for organizational operations for external use. [3] 4. Identify and utilize sources of financial statement information of publicly traded companies. [4] 5. Demonstrate a fundamental understanding of accounting terminology. [4] (2) Finance 6. Demonstrate an understanding of the valuation effects of each financial decision. [3] 7. Demonstrate an understanding of the riskreturn relationship and its effects on decision making. [3] 8. Demonstrate the ability to access and use basic tools to calculate and measure financial outcomes. [3] 9. Identify the major financial statements of a corporation and indicators of good performance. [3]
(3) Economic Environment 10. Define terminology associated with economic environments in business (e.g., deficit, surplus, debt, market economy). [3] 11. Demonstrate an appreciation for basic economics issues, such as limitations of resources and the global impact of economic issues on business. [3] 12. Identify factors responsible for economic growth and the policies that impact long-run growth. [3] (4) Social Environment 13. Identify ethical issues and choose the most ethical action. [3] 14. Demonstrate ethical and social responsibility in given business scenarios. [3] (5) Legal Environment 15. Identify legal issues and legal risks in business decision making, including the substantive areas of torts, contracts, and sales law. [3] 16. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the basic concepts of the legal system such as the elements of a contract. [3] (6) Management 17. Select the appropriate management action in a business scenario involving employee supervision/evaluation. [3] 18. Demonstrate an understanding of management and leadership and their differences. [3]
© 2010 FBLA-PBL, Inc. and Technological Fluency Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Comprehensive Business Exam® 19. Describe and explain the manner in which all of the functional areas in business operate, emphasizing business management. [3] 20. Demonstrate an understanding of the other managers and the human resource management process. [3] 21. Identify how to make changes and organizational changes. [3] (7) International Business 22. Demonstrate an understanding of current global business and future global business challenges. [3] 23. Demonstrate an understanding of the environments of global business and the importance of global business strategies. [3] 24. Demonstrate an understanding of the influences of political, economic, and cultural factors on the development of global business strategies. [3] (8) Marketing 25. Identify components of the marketing mix. [3] 26. Demonstrate an understanding of the social/cultural; legal, political, and regulatory; economic; technological; and competitive environments on marketing products and services in a global society. [3] 27. Demonstrate an understanding of the synergistic effects of combining product, promotion (communication), price, and distribution decisions relevant to market opportunities and
applying this understanding to the development of a marketing plan. [3] 28. Explain how consumers purchase and evaluate services. [3]
Online Testing The Comprehensive Business Exam is completed online after logging into a secure, interactive online assessment system, E-SESS™, operated by Technological Fluency Institute (TFI).
Test Format The CBE uses the same question format throughout the test: a question stem with four possible answer choices. The online system presents the items (88 scored items and four to 12 items in development for future versions of the CBE) in the same order for all test takers, but the order of the four answer choices for each item varies randomly.
© 2010 FBLA-PBL, Inc. and Technological Fluency Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Comprehensive Business Exam® Time Allocation Respondents have 1½ hours to complete the CBE. During initial beta testing sessions, most respondents required 30-60 minutes to complete the assessment.
Reports The Comprehensive Business Exam yields a global score (number correct) and an overall proficiency rating for the exam as a whole. The CBE also provides each test taker with a profile that shows the number correct and a proficiency level for each of the eight content domain subtests:
• Accounting • Management • Economic Environment • Legal Environment
• Finance • Marketing • Social Environment • International Business
In addition to the individual student reports, the Comprehensive Business Exam provides the sponsoring higher education institution with routine summary reports that compare the performance of its students to the performance of students from peer institutions. These summary reports, generated by E-SESS™ and distributed by Technological Fluency Institute, Inc., compare the institution’s student test scores with student scores from peer institutions on the proficiency levels attained by students on each of the content domain subtests.
Purpose The Comprehensive Business Exam provides a valid and reliable measure of the general
business knowledge undergraduate students possess as they near graduation with a general business degree. The CBE is designed to assess the knowledge and concepts presented in the core courses required for an undergraduate degree in business. Results from the Comprehensive Business Exam can provide important data for program review and improvement. Faculty and university administrators can use the CBE results to: • Take stock of their business degree program by comparing the performance of their senior business majors to the performance of senior business majors at peer institutions, • Judge the effectiveness of their program in preparing students, • Document the change over time in students’ knowledge of business content. Faculty can administer a pretest using the CBE to freshman/sophomore students who have declared a business major and then again as these students approach graduation, • Track over time the performance of different cohorts of business majors, • Prepare accountability documents for governing boards and accrediting agencies, • Gauge what senior students have learned over the four years in their core business degree courses, and finally, • Establish within their degree program a culture of accountability and evidence that uses data to drive decisions about program changes and improvements.
© 2010 FBLA-PBL, Inc. and Technological Fluency Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Comprehensive Business Exam® Scoring and Interpretation of Results The Comprehensive Business Exam scores the test by reporting the number correct out of the 88 scored items. An additional four to 12 additional items on the Exam consist of questions in development for future versions and are not included in the student’s score. The CBE yields a global score (number correct) and an overall proficiency rating for the exam as a whole. The overall proficiency rating is determined by the number of domains a student attains proficient or higher. The table below shows the proficiency levels for the overall exam. Overall Mastery
7 or 8 domains are “proficient” or higher
Overall Proficient
6 domains are “proficient” or higher
Overall Basic
4 or 5 domains are “proficient” or higher
Overall Not Proficient
0, 1, 2, or 3 domains are “proficient” or higher
The CBE also provides each test taker with a profile that shows the number correct and the proficiency level on each of the eight content domain subtests. The table below shows the proficiency levels for the individual domains: Mastery
100% of the items in the domain correct
Proficient
83%-99% of the items in the domain correct
Basic
66%-82% of the items in the domain correct
Not Proficient
below 66% of the items in the domain correct
Immediately after submitting the CBE, the individual test taker will see a screen showing a profile report similar to one shown below.
Technical Information This information is extracted from the Comprehensive Business Exam® Technical Manual. The manual describes the development of the assessment, details the testing protocol, and provides samples of the reports available to students and institutions.
Individual Profile Report
© 2010 FBLA-PBL, Inc. and Technological Fluency Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.