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There is less than a month to go until the 2024 National High School Exam (Enem) , which will take place on November 3 and 10. To help participants understand how exam scores are calculated, the Ministry of Education (MEC) — through the National Institute of Studies and Educational Research Anísio Teixeira (INEP) — explains how the Item Response Theory (IRT) works: a methodology for calculating scores for the 180 objective questions that make up the Enem. The analysis of the essay, which considers the criteria and competencies established in the document “The Essay – Participant's Handbook” will also be explained .
Item Response Theory – IRT is a set of mathematical models that seeks to represent the relationship between the probability of the participant answering a question correctly, their knowledge in the area in which they are being assessed and the characteristics of the questions.
The TRI model used in Enem takes into account three parameters considered essential for measuring knowledge:
a) Discrimination: differentiates participants who master what is assessed by the question from those who do not master it.
b) Difficulty: assesses the complexity of the question; the higher its value, the more difficult the item.
c) Random hit: considers the probability of a participant getting the question right without mastering the required skill (the famous “guess”).
To determine the values of the parameters “a”, “b” and “c” of thousands of items and enable the preparation of the tests, in order to guarantee comparability between the editions of Enem, Inep carried out several pre-tests at a national level. This process allowed establishing a connection between the various editions of Enem, including the 2024 edition. With this, the agency created a specific item bank for each of the four areas of knowledge assessed in the exam.
Calculating scores and proficiency – TRI does not only take into account the number of correct answers, but also the coherence of the answers to the set of questions. In practice, it is expected that participants who answered the difficult questions correctly will also answer the easy questions correctly. This is because, theoretically, more complex skills require mastery of simpler skills.
On the other hand, TRI also points out that a participant with a high number of correct answers will have a high score, while a participant with few correct answers will have a low score.
Enem 2024 Essay Guide – To clarify participants’ doubts regarding the skills required for a good essay, Inep has made available on its website the document “Enem 2024 Essay – Participant Guide” . The material provides information about the test’s reference matrix and presents commented samples of texts that received the maximum score (1000 points) in Enem 2023.
Enem – The National High School Exam assesses students’ academic performance at the end of basic education. Over its more than two decades of existence, Enem has become the main gateway to higher education in Brazil, through the Unified Selection System (Sisu) and initiatives such as the University for All Program (Prouni).
Public and private educational institutions use the Enem to select students. The results are used as the sole or complementary criterion for selection processes, in addition to serving as a parameter for access to government aid, such as that provided by the Student Financing Fund (Fies).
Individual Enem results can also be used in the selection processes of Portuguese institutions that have an agreement with Inep to accept exam scores. The agreements guarantee easy access to the scores of Brazilian students interested in pursuing higher education in Portugal.