In this paper we propose an upward correction to the standard error (SE) estimation of theta[subscript ML], the maximum likelihood (ML) estimate of the latent trait in item response theory (IRT). More specifically, the upward correction is provided for the SE of theta[subscript ML] when item parameter estimates obtained from an independent pretest sample are used in IRT scoring. When item parameter estimates are employed, the resulting latent trait estimate is called pseudo maximum likelihood (PML) estimate. Traditionally, the SE of theta[subscript ML] is obtained on the basis of test information only, as if the item parameters are known. The upward correction takes into account the error that is carried over from the estimation of item parameters, in addition to the error in latent trait recovery itself. Our simulation study shows that both types of SE estimates are very good when theta is in the middle range of the latent trait distribution, but the upward-corrected SEs are more accurate than the traditional ones when theta takes more extreme values. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)