Computerized Adaptive Testing via Collaborative Ranking

Abstract

As the deep integration of machine learning and intelligent education, Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) has received more and more research attention. Compared to traditional paper-and-pencil tests, CAT can deliver both personalized and interactive assessments by automatically adjusting testing questions according to the performance of students during the test process. Therefore, CAT has been recognized as an efficient testing methodology capable of accurately estimating a student’s ability with a minimal number of questions, leading to its widespread adoption in mainstream selective exams such as the GMAT and GRE. However, just improving the accuracy of ability estimation is far from satisfactory in the real-world scenarios, since an accurate ranking of students is usually more important (e.g., in high-stakes exams). Considering the shortage of existing CAT solutions in student ranking, this paper emphasizes the importance of aligning test outcomes (student ranks) with the true underlying abilities of students. Along this line, different from the conventional independent testing paradigm among students, we propose a novel collaborative framework, Collaborative Computerized Adaptive Testing (CCAT), that leverages inter-student information to enhance student ranking. By using collaborative students as anchors to assist in ranking test-takers, CCAT can give both theoretical guarantees and experimental validation for ensuring ranking consistency.