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Hong KongScaled scoring: why 75 is not 75 per cent
The exam is scaled-scored, with 75 required. That is not 75 per cent and not a fixed number of correct answers - the raw-to-scaled conversion adjusts for the difficulty of the particular form you sat, and providers do not publish it.
Almost every free study site states a percentage you need. Most of them are wrong, and the reason is worth two minutes.
What scaling does
Multiple forms of the exam exist. They are built to the same blueprint and they are not identical in difficulty - one draw of 80 questions is always a little harder than another.
Scaling corrects for that. Your raw score is converted to a common scale so that a given scaled score means the same competence regardless of which form you sat.
The scaled pass mark is 75. The raw number of questions that produces it varies by form, and providers do not publish the conversion.
Nobody outside the provider can tell you honestly. Anyone quoting an exact number is repeating something they read. Prepare to be comfortably above the line rather than trying to find where it is.
Why the misinformation persists
Because a percentage is easier to write about, and because "75" reads like a percentage. It is a scale point, and the two look identical on the page.
The practical effect is that candidates target a number that may not exist and stop revising when they hit it on a practice test that was scored a completely different way.
What a practice score actually tells you
A percentage on our bank or anyone else's is a percentage on that bank. It is a useful trend line and not a prediction.
Which is why the readiness target on this site is 80 per cent on a full-length mock, twice. It is deliberately above any plausible pass mark, because the point is to leave room for a bad question draw and exam-day nerves.
Unscored questions
Some certification exams include pilot questions that are not scored, used to gather statistics for future forms. Where they exist you cannot identify them, and the only sensible response is to answer everything as though it counts.
Getting your result
Usually immediately on screen, with the certificate following within days once the provider processes it. A failed attempt generally comes with feedback on relative performance by content area, which is the most useful thing to come out of it.
Use that feedback. A retake plan built on which areas were weakest beats a retake plan that reads everything again.
Common questions
What score do you need to pass the food manager exam?
A scaled score of 75. That is a point on a scale rather than a percentage, and it does not correspond to a fixed number of correct answers.
How many questions can you get wrong?
Nobody outside the provider can say honestly, because the raw-to-scaled conversion varies by exam form and is not published. Anyone quoting an exact number is repeating something unverified.
Why is the exam scaled?
Different forms of the exam vary slightly in difficulty. Scaling converts raw scores so that the same scaled score means the same level of competence whichever form you sat.
What practice score means I am ready?
Eighty per cent on a full-length mock, twice. That target sits deliberately above any plausible pass mark to leave room for a hard question draw and exam-day nerves.
When do you get your result?
Usually immediately on screen, with the certificate following within days. A failed attempt normally comes with feedback on relative performance by content area, which is what a retake plan should be built on.