NBCE Exam 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners

The term that describes the ability of a test to avoid giving a false positive is specificity. Specificity measures how well a test correctly identifies individuals who do not have the condition being tested for. A test with high specificity indicates that it accurately rules out those who do not have the disease, which is essential to minimizing false positive results. This ensures that people who are healthy are not incorrectly diagnosed with a condition, thereby avoiding unnecessary anxiety and further testing.

While validity refers to how well a test measures what it is supposed to measure and encompasses both sensitivity and specificity, it does not specifically address false positives. Sensitivity, on the other hand, pertains to the ability of a test to correctly identify those with the condition, focusing instead on true positives rather than false positives. Reliability involves the consistency of a test's results over repeated applications but does not speak to the accuracy related to false positives directly. Therefore, specificity is the most accurate term in this context.