An examinee who responds correctly will then receive a more difficult item. An examinee who misses the first item will be given an easier question. And so it goes, with the computer algorithm adjusting the selection of the items interactively to the successful or failed responses of the test taker. In a CAT, each examinee takes a unique test that is tailored to his or her ability level. Avoided are questions that have low information value about the test taker's proficiency.
CAT allows test takers to work at their own pace.
The speed of examinee responses could be used as additional information in assessing proficiency, if desired and warranted. The test can be scored immediately, providing instantaneous feedback for the examinees. The computer contains the entire item pool, rather than merely those specific items that will make up the examinee's test. However, in order to achieve improved security, the item pool must be sufficiently large to ensure that test items do not reappear with a frequency sufficient to allow examinees to memorize them. Tests can include text, graphics, photographs, and even full-motion video clips, although multimedia CAT development is still in its infancy.