Reading section / Listening section
Approximately 15 – 25% of the items a student comes across will be refreshed on a yearly basis. For languages with fewer test takers, this percentage will be closer to the lower range, whereas for major languages it will be closer to the upper range.
As part of the yearly refresh, the position of some items in the test will change, to reduce the amount of exposure of some items in the test.
Statistical analysis of item and test characteristics will take place yearly, for every test, to ensure the consistent high reliability of the STAMP assessments.
Given the real-time adaptive nature of the STAMP test (not fixed form), as students increase in proficiency year after year they will naturally come across different items as well.
Writing & Speaking sections
100% of all prompts in the operational test are refreshed in December of every year. Old prompts are retired and new ones are introduced into operational test.
Refresh serves to reduce item exposure and ensure that test takers experience different tasks and scenarios each year, thus increasing engagement.