Defining Rules for Adaptive and Random Tests

At this point you should be able to

Create an Assessment
Create Sections in an Assessment
Choosing “Random Test Type”
Choosing “Adaptive Test Type”

When you need to create a test that is customised based on how a student is performing in a course then you can use the RandomTest feature as well as Adaptive Test feature on the EdisonOS platform to build assessments that cater to a student’s specific need. These types of tests are especially helpful for several reasons. Let’s understand how!

Random Tests are Great for When

You want to build a stand alone assessment that caters to a painpoint/ weak area of a student.
You want to filter questions to be from a specific skill or domain or even subject or topic.
You want to filter questions according to type. Eg. Multiple Choice Problems or True or False questions.
You want to manually select or create a set of more challenging questions to test a students capabilities on a particular topic.
When you want to administer a common test with the same set of questions to a group of test takers.

Using the Various Filters in the Random Test features

The first step is to determine the number of questions in this section of the assessment.
Next pick a folder name from which questions will be selected.
Notice that the first filter you add comes with an And/Or toggle.
Filters can be set according to Folder Name and/ or Folder Tags, Question Type, Question Diificulty and also question tags.
You can add upto 4 filters and have a total of 5 filters to define a Random Test condition.
Once you have added the required filters, click Submit.

Watch the video below for a detailed walk through!

Adaptive Tests are Great When

You want to build a test section that is based on a students performance in a previous test section.
You want to filter questions to be from a specific skill or domain or even subject or topic.
You want to filter questions according to type. Eg. Multiple Choice Problems or True or False questions
You want to automate a set of more challenging questions to test a students capabilities on a particular topic.
When you want to give each test taker a more customised and hence more accurate assessment.

Forming a rule using the Adaptive Test feature

The first step is to define the higher ‘score range’. Test takers that score in this range should ideally be given a more challenging set of questions in the following section. You as a trainer can determine how the test is made more challenging for a high scorer based on the filters you set in the rule engine.
The next step is to define the number of questions in this section of the assessment.
Once you have done this and defined a ‘high score range’, pick the folder from which you would like to select questions. Make sure you have planned, before hand, which folder (with more challenging questions) you are going to present to test takers.
You can add upto 4 filters and have a total of 5 filters to define an adaptive test.
Notice that the first filter you add comes with an And/Or toggle.
Filters can be set according to Folder Name and/ or Folder Tags, Question Type, Question Diificulty and also question tags.
Once you have done this, repeat the process for the default set of scorers. In other words, assessees who score below the ‘high score range’ set in the previous condition will be given this latter set of questions according to the set filters and click Submit.


Watch the video below for a detailed walk through!

To make the best of Random and Adaptive Tests

Make sure to have different folders for different domains, skills and topics.
Add tags to folders and to questions.
Classify questions according to difficulty.
Make sure folder titles are unique and discernable.
Make sure each folder has a healthy number of questions to choose from. A common mistake is to set a condition and then not have it met because of a shortage of a type of question in a folder.

PRO TIP: Don’t use folder tags alongside folder name in a filter.

The Experience from the Test Takers Side

The assessee will have a seamless test taking experience which is both imperceptible to any conditions and unobtrusive. Your students will not know that any conditions have been applied unless you tell them that you have designed the test this way!

Updated on: 07/12/2023