Since the standard deviation of a test equals the negative of the sum of e indices for all distractors, "omit" responses, and "not-reached" responses, we may say that the e value indicates the extent of the contribution of each of these to the spread of scores or to the discriminating power of the test. This suggests a method of evaluating the appropriateness, or usefulness, of the not-reached responses which may lead to an evaluation of the appropriateness of the number of items with respect to the time limit of the test.