05/18/2016

GCYBA MEMBERS TAKE NEW CPYB PILOT EXAM

By Colleen McDonough, CPYB Program Manager

From Left to right.  David Hunt – Texas Power Yachts,  Rick Weiler, CPYB – Little Yacht Sales,  David Jackson, CPYB – Little Yacht Sales (Test Proctor and Exam Review Committee Member), Capt. Robert Brush – Sea Lake Yachts, Cory Webster – Galati Yacht Sales, Rex Bettis, CPYB – Jay Bettis & Co. Yacht Sales

The CPYB Certification Advisory Council (CAC) and the CPYB Exam Review Committee thank Gulf Coast Yacht Brokers Association members and the other 27 members from YBAA, FYBA, NYBA, CYBA, BCYBA and BOD who volunteered to take the 199 question, 4 hour CPYB pilot exam. The CPYB Exam Review Committee consisted of the following volunteers: Chairman – Lon Bubeck, California Yacht Brokers Association; Alan Powell, Northwest Yacht Brokers Association: Paul Shield, British Columbia Yacht Brokers Association; Pat Sturgeon, Boating Ontario Dealer; Leslie Quarrier, YBAA; Brian Commette, YBAA; David Jackson, Gulf Coast Yacht Brokers Association; Chris Carrere, Florida Yacht Brokers Association and staff, Colleen McDonough and Vin Petrella. The committee spent countless hours reviewing the current exam questions for accuracy and clarity, as well as writing, rewriting and editing over 100 new questions. A monumental task achieved by a special group of dedicated volunteers for which we are very grateful.

The exhaustive process which began in March, 2015, required the Exam Review Committee (ERC) to attend a two day meeting with the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) to validate the Body of Knowledge and to begin the process of writing new exam questions and answers. Participation in six, one hour conference calls was the next step to review the questions again to be sure that NOCTIC’s transcription of the questions and answers were accurate and most importantly, were the correct answers properly identified for the test answer sheet. Once NOCTI received the revisions from the ERC, NOCTI then created the 199 question pilot exam combining revised questions from the existing exams with the newly written questions provided by the ERC.

The pilot test was taken by 32 pilot test takers from all 7 co-sponsoring associations and then returned to NOCTI for scoring.  Next, the ERC attended a 4 hour conference call with NOCTI to determine the validity of the questions based on scoring. For instance, if a question was scored 100% incorrectly or correctly by the pilot exam takers, the question would be eliminated from the final exam with the ultimate goal of getting the new exam down to 155-160 questions to keep within a 3 hour exam window. In addition, the final cut score or passing grade would be determined by recommendation from NOCTI and with approval by the CAC. The new CPYB exam, Version 10, will replace the existing Version 9 no later than July 1, 2016. For further information, please contact Colleen McDonough at cmcdonough@cpyb.net.