The Impact of Braindump Sites on Item Exposure and Item Parameter Drift

Given the number of so-called “Braindump” sites emerging on the internet, it is necessary to understand their effects on the security and validity of exam scores. This study examines the impact of braindump sites on an exam using two different approaches, one experimental and one non-experimental. Research items were posted verbatim to a popular brain dumpsite immediately upon the exam’s release. A drift analysis compared the item parameter drift of intentionally exposed unscored items to the drift of the live items. There was little difference in the drift in item difficulty between the live and the experimental items. Popular brain-dump sites were searched after the live publication of the exam to identify the rate and quality of the exposure of the exam items. The results found that most of the bank was available after about 8 months and the items were surprisingly accurate. A p-value trend analysis was used to explore the relationship between exposure, impact, and parameter drift. The Impact of Braindump Sites 2