Before revision: The pool of available items is searched for the optimal item, based on the current estimate of the examinee's ability The chosen item is presented to the examinee, who then answers it correctly or incorrectly The ability estimate is updated, based upon all prior answers Steps 1–3 are repeated until a termination criterion is met Nothing is known about the examinee prior to the administration of the first item, so the algorithm is generally started by selecting an item of medium, or medium-easy, difficulty as the first item.
After revision: The pool of available items is searched for the optimal item, based on the current estimate of the examinee's ability The chosen item is presented to the examinee, who then answers it correctly or incorrectly The ability estimate is updated, based on all prior answers Steps 1–3 are repeated until a termination criterion is met Nothing is known about the examinee prior to the administration of the first item, so the algorithm is generally started by selecting an item of medium, or medium-easy, difficulty as the first item.