Using Simulated Students to Evaluate an Adaptive Testing System

This paper describes a strategy for evaluating adaptive tests by means of simulations of student b ehaviours. After a brief introduction to the topic of adaptive tests and a discussion of the use of simulation of student behaviour in the field of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, the paper shows h ow a ''student model'', which may be constructed during a testing process, can be used as the kernel of a simulation of student ability. The paper then discusses how such a simulation can be used as part of the necessary ''pre-production'' evaluation of an adaptive test. Finally, it describes the use of simulations to fine-tune an adaptive test to yield a desired effectiveness.