How Are the Questions Picked for the Advancement Exam?

[Tony]

The questions on Navy advancement exams are pulled from exam banks that are maintained by rating Chief Petty Officers during Advancement Exam Readiness Reviews. A typical rating exam bank will have approximately 3000 questions, and each rating's exam bank supports E4-E7 exam development. Questions have to be tied to rating Occupational Standards and must fit the test plan designed by the rating subject matter experts. Most importantly, each question must meet psychometric standards and statistical parameters. For example, when a question is answered correctly by all candidates, that question is thrown out and not used again. NAC exam standards require each question to identify the most knowledgeable Sailors. Similarly, a question that all Sailors get wrong will be thrown out. There are no trick questions, and each question is tied to a rating reference. That's why you should use the NAC bibliography only for exam preparation, because the BIB is exam specific and lists the exact references that were used to verify the questions on your exam.