The contributions of exam reviewers are crucial to LOMA’s continued quality improvement efforts and new program initiatives. In fact, it is thanks in part to reviewer suggestions that LOMA recently rolled out the Professional, Customer Service (PCS) designation, as well as the entire Fellow, Financial Services Institute (FFSI) Program. We hope you will consider serving as a LOMA examination reviewer.

Exam Reviewer Recommendation Form

Exam Reviewer Flyer

Exam Reviewer Role

Each course in LOMA’s education programs has an examination review panel consisting of experts from the insurance/financial services field that most closely relates to the course’s study materials. Each review panel constitutes an impressive collection of industry volunteers with vast and varied experiences and knowledge. Reviewers have long told us that participating as an exam reviewer offers them not only a rewarding industry service experience but also valuable networking opportunities.

During an exam review, panel members evaluate questions that have not yet been administered to students. The primary purposes of this review are to determine whether the test questions

1. are relevant to the student population for the given course,
2. are fair and accurate, based on the course’s study materials and the “real world,” and
3. focus on the most important topics that students should have learned.

Often during the course of the exam review, reviewers discover problems in the text that render a particular section “untestable” - in other words, testing on the material in the book would be unfair to students because either the book is not accurate or it does not reflect industry practice. By sharing this information with the examination authors, exam reviewers directly influence future text revisions and, in turn, the direction of the program as a whole.

Exam Review Process

The process of a typical exam review is as follows:

• Three-four weeks prior to the meeting, reviewers receive a “draft” containing proposed examination questions. The exact number of questions depends on a number of factors. There could be as many as 200 questions to review.
• Panel members review each question in the context of the three criteria outlined above.
• The review panel meets with LOMA staff members on the agreed-upon date for a one-day meeting, during which panel members discuss each exam question and the staff members incorporate reviewer suggestions into the questions. The staff members also make notes about any text problems or future testing suggestions that reviewers mention; these comments are subsequently shared with LOMA’s curriculum staff.

On average, each exam review panel meets in person approximately once per year, although some meetings are held via conference call. The locations of the meetings can vary. The meeting is usually held either in the offices of a panel member or at LOMA’s headquarters in Atlanta .

As a general rule, for traveling reviewers the majority of panel meetings require the following expenses: (a) airfare to the host city, (b) one night’s hotel accommodation, and (c) time away from the office for 1 - 2 days. Please note that these are expenses that your company will have to bear, so we ask that you obtain approval prior to joining the review panel.

For more information, send an e-mail to examreviewers@loma.org.