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The Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy (PIQL) has been used to measure the development of students’ physics quantitative literacy in calculus-based introductory physics courses. Despite its effectiveness, issues persist regarding time constraints and potential memorization of items. We propose to split the PIQL into two shorter but statistically equivalent exams (PIQLets) in order to avoid these problems. Using a data set collected with the full PIQL, we created 480 theoretical PIQLet pairs containing different combinations of items. We provide evidence for the similarity of PIQLet pairs by calculating score differences, and comparing the distribution of item parameters calculated using item response theory. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for defining an equivalent pair of PIQLets using a limited data set from a single university. Additional analyses using a broader and more diverse data set will be required for more broadly applicable results. 

For this year’s career issue, LCGC North America teamed up with the American Chemical Society Subdivision on Chromatography and Separations Chemistry to ask the analytical chemistry community what skills new employees in the field need to succeed. In this report, we analyze the survey results and explore how they can inform the future of analytical chemistry curriculum development.