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Subject-Area Knowledge Measured by Scores on the National Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG) Fundamentals Examination and the Implications for Academic Preparation

The National Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG) has administered approximately fifty-one hundred examinations for the licensing of geologists since the initial examination offering in 1992. The examination consists of a fundamentals portion and a practice portion. Each portion is 4 hours in length. The average passing rate across all administrations of the fundamentals examination is 58% and is 68% for the practice examination. For each examination, the subject matter tested is divided into nine areas or subject area domains based upon the results of the task analysis (survey of the practicing profession) that guides the examination blueprint. For the fundamentals examination, the distribution of questions among domains is: field methods and remote sensing (28% of 110 examination questions), mineralogy, petrology, petrography, and geochemistry (14%), sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleontology (10%), geomorphology (6%), structural geology and tectonics (9%), geophysics and seismology (4%), hydrogeology (25%), engineering geology (3%), and mineral, petroleum, and energy resources (1%). The candidate success in each domain on the fundamentals examinations was determined for the last five administrations of the examinations during the period 2002–2003. The average percentage of questions answered correctly in each domain was: field methods and remote sensing (67% of questions answered correctly), mineralogy, petrology, petrography, and geochemistry (58%), sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleontology (56%), geomorphology (63%), structural geology and tectonics (64%), geophysics and seismology (60%), hydrogeology (67%), engineering geology in combination with mineral, petroleum, and energy resources (67%). Candidates are doing poorer in those subject areas traditionally believed to be the fundamental subject areas of an undergraduate geology education (mineralogy, petrology, sedimentology, etc).