Computer adaptive tests: A comparative study

Abstract

Computer based tests are becoming increasingly important and are thus implemented in all fields of education. The clear advantage of computer adaptive testing is witnessed by the maximal balance of accuracy and efficiency. For purposes of determining the effects of applying the computer adaptive test for knowledge evaluation, the adaptive test was realized in the MATLAB software package. The research was done at Subotica Tech - College of Applied Sciences (Subotica, Serbia) with students from the Department of Informatics. The MATLAB application was compared with two computer adaptive tests with a similar purpose: testing student's knowledge of programming languages. The comparison was done for the four basic components that every computer adaptive test has to have: item bank, starting point, item selection algorithm and stopping rule.