National Examination Question Clarification Procedures

Dates of Promulgation

Establishment of the complete text of 12 articles, promulgated on July 6, 1996, as per Examination Yuan (85) Kao-Tai-Zu-(1)-Yi-Zi Order No. 03764.
Change of the title and amendments to the complete text of 10 articles, promulgated on July 25, 2000, as per Examination Yuan (89) Kao-Tai-Zu-(1)-Yi-Zi Order No. 03906. (The original title: “Civil Service Examination Question Clarification Procedures”)
Amendments to Articles 1, 2, and 3; addition of Article 10; and renumbering of the original Article 10 as Article 11, promulgated on January 24, 2003 as per Examination Yuan Kao-Tai-Zu-(1)-Yi-Zi Order No. 0910010886.
Amendments to Article 6 and appendices 1 and 2, promulgated on September 3, 2004 as per Examination Yuan Kao-Tai-Zu-(1)-Yi-Zi Order No. 09300075121.
Amendments to Articles 2, 4, 10 and appendices 1 and 2; deletion of Article 11, promulgated on August 10, 2011 as per Examination Yuan Kao-Tai-Zu-(1)-Yi-Zi Order No. 100000067551.
Amendments to Article 1 and Appendix 2 to Article 2, promulgated on August 27, 2013 as per Examination Yuan Kao-Tai-Zu-(1)-Yi-Zi Order No. 10200073221.
Amendments to Articles 2, 4, and 6, promulgated on May 26, 2014 as per Examination Yuan Kao-Tai-Zu-(1)-Yi-Zi Order No. 10300033811.
Amendments to Articles 1, 3, 7, and 8, promulgated on August 7, 2015 as per Examination Yuan Kao-Tai-Zu-(1)-Yi-Zi Order No. 10400046691.
Amendments to Articles 2 and 10, promulgated on October 3, 2022 as per Examination Yuan Kao-Tai-Zu-(1)-Yi-Zi Order No. 11106000431.

The text of these Regulations is as follows:

Article 1
These Procedures are established as per Article 24, Paragraph 2 of the Examination Affairs Act.

Article 2
If an exam taker has questions regarding the written exam questions or the official answer key to multiple-choice questions (hereinafter the “answer key”), they shall submit a request for clarification via the national exam registration website within three days from the day following the completion of all written exams. The request must clearly identify the question or answer key considered inappropriate or incorrect, state the reasons, and include supporting evidence. Each question may be challenged only once
The submission deadline, application procedures, required information, and the format and size of the supporting electronic files shall be specified in the exam information package. Requests submitted after the deadline, in an incorrect format, or lacking any required information will not be accepted.

Article 3
Questions raised by exam takers, except those unrelated to the examination content which will be addressed directly by the exam administration agency, shall be handled in accordance with the following:
1. The information submitted by the exam taker, along with the relevant examination questions and answer keys, shall be reviewed and responded to in writing within seven days by members of the board of examiners, question drafters, question reviewers, or graders.
2. The written responses shall be submitted to the convener, who shall convene a meeting of the board of examiners, question drafters, question reviewers, graders, or scholars to discuss this matter.
3. The results of the discussion shall be submitted to the chair of the board of examiners for approval. Based on the approved results, exam paper shall be graded and the applicant shall be notified of the outcome.
4. The results of the discussion shall be reported to the board of examiners.
If any member of the board of examiners, question drafters, question reviewers, or graders are unable to respond to the request, a proxy who is qualified as a member of the board of examiners may act on their behalf. If the convener is unable to chair the meeting, another member of the board of examiners may act as the convener.

Article 4
Questions regarding multiple-choice questions or answer keys, once verified, shall be handled in accordance with the following provisions:
1.Where no error or flaw is found in the examination question or answer key, the original answer key shall apply.
2.Where a flaw is found in the examination question but the original answer key is unaffected, the original answer key shall apply.
3.Where a flaw in the examination question affects the original answer key, or an error is found in the published answer key, the question shall be re-graded in accordance with the corrected answer key.
4.Where the examination question is determined to be incorrect and has no correct answer, full points shall be awarded for that question.
For a multiple-choice question with a single correct answer, if the question clarification meeting determines that two or more answers are equally correct and it is impossible to judge which is the most appropriate, full points shall be awarded for any selected answer or combination of such correct answers. However, no points shall be awarded for selections containing contradictory choices.For a multiple-choice question with multiple correct answers, if the question clarification meeting determines that only one correct answer exists, full points shall be awarded for any selection containing the correct answer. However, selections not containing the correct answer shall be graded in accordance with Article 19-2, Paragraph 2 of the Examination Grading Regulations.

Article 5
Questions regarding essay-type or other non-multiple-choice questions, once verified, shall be handled in accordance with the following provisions:
1.Where no error or flaw is found in the examination question, the original grading standards shall apply.
2.Where a flaw is found in the examination question but the original grading standards are unaffected, the original grading standards shall apply.
3.Where a flaw in the examination question affects the original grading standards but the question remains answerable, the question shall be evaluated in accordance with the revised grading standards.
4.Where an examination question or sub-question is rendered unanswerable due to an error, that question or sub-question shall not be graded, and its points shall be re-distributed proportionally to other questions of the subject or to other sub-questions of the same question.

Article 6
Questions regarding examination questions raised by exam takers during the examination shall be recorded by the exam administration agency.
After the examination, if exam takers still have questions about the questions they raised during the examination, they shall submit an application in accordance with Article 2.

Article 7
Exam takers who raise a question regarding an examination question may not request the disclosure of the names or other identifying information of the members of board of examiners, question drafters, graders, or question reviewers, nor may they request the provision of answers to questions for which answers have not been published.

Article 8
Any request for clarification regarding an oral or practical examination question shall be raised on site by the exam taker and handled by the oral or practical examiners.

Article 9
If a grader raises a question regarding an examination question during the grading period, the procedures set forth in Articles 3 to 5 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 10
These Procedures shall come into effect upon promulgation.
The amendment to Article 2, made on October 3, 2022, shall take effect on January 1, 2023.