Item Selection Strategies Combining Response Time with Item Exposure Control in MCAT

Abstract Multidimensional Computerized Adaptive Testing (MCAT) can improve testing efficiency, but it can also lead to test issues such as item overexposure and unbalanced use of items in the item bank. In MCAT, item selection strategies based on response time typically ignore item exposure. Therefore, this study combined four response time‐based item selection strategies (DT‐inc, DT, AT‐inc, and AT) with two different exposure control methods (RT and RPG), designing eight new item selection strategies to examine the performance of item selection strategies under conditions with and without exposure control approaches. Results of simulation and empirical studies indicated that eight new item selection strategies effectively improved test item pool utilization and item exposure uniformity, significantly reduced test‐taking time for examinees, and did not significantly affect estimation accuracy.