Comparison of methods for controlling maximum exposure rates in computerized adaptive testing

This paper has two objectives: (a) to provide a clear description of three methods for controlling the maximum exposure rate in computerized adaptive testing -the Symson-Hetter method, the restricted method, and the item-eligibility method- showing how all three can be interpreted as methods for constructing the variable sub-bank of items from which each examinee receives the items in his or her test; (b) to indicate the theoretical and empirical limitations of each method and to compare their performance. With the three methods, we obtained basically indistinguishable results in overlap rate and RMSE (differences in the third decimal place). The restricted method is the best method for controlling exposure rate, followed by the item-eligibility method. The worst method is the Sympson-Hetter method. The restricted method presents problems of sequential overlap rate. Our advice is to use the item-eligibility method, as it saves time and satisfies the goals of restricting maximum exposure.