Once configured, the Adaptive Study Plan exists as a separate tab within the Study Plan module in the Learning Application. Learners can choose to switch between Structured and Adaptive Study Plans without erasing any previous activity within the course. The Structured Study Plan is the default study plan for a new learner. A learner can switch between the Structured Study Plan and Adaptive Study Plan at any time, but cannot actively use both at the same time. Progress that is made in one experience will be reflected in the other.
Adaptive Assessment
The Adaptive Assessment is a testing experience unique to the Adaptive Study Plan. The Adaptive Assessment is designed to glean as much information about a learner’s performance in each Knowledge Set in the fewest questions. The assessment is auto-generated by the system based on the Knowledge Sets in the Adaptive Study Plan The adaptive engine creates the assessment by pulling 5 practice questions from each Knowledge Set for the learner to answer. The first question presented to a learner in each set will be a medium difficulty question. Their answer to that question will dictate the next question presented. If they get a question incorrect, they will be given an easier question. If they get a question correct, they will be given a harder question.
After completing the Adaptive Assessment, the Adaptive Study Plan will present the learner with their highest priority Knowledge Set and the subsequent Knowledge Sets ranked from highest to lowest priority. This presentation is based on both learner performance as well as on the importances in each Knowledge Set, such that each learner may be directed to complete content in different order or to skip sections they have already mastered.
Starting with whe Adaptive Study Plan
If a learner switches into the Adaptive Study Plan at the start of their course (i.e., without completing any other activities in the course), they will be prompted to complete the full Adaptive Assessment. They must answer 5 questions for every Knowledge Set.
Switching to the Adaptive Study Plan with insufficient performance data
If a learner switches into the Adaptive Study Plan midway through their course (i.e., after completing some practice or exam questions), they are prompted to complete some of the Adaptive Assessment. If they’ve attempted enough practice or exam questions for the system to collect some performance data, the learner will not be required to re-do the questions in these Knowledge sets.
Switching to the Adaptive Study Plan with sufficient performance data
If a learner switches into the Adaptive Study Plan after completing several practice questions or exams, they may not be prompted to take the Adaptive Assessment at all. If they’ve already answered enough questions for the Adaptive Study Plan algorithm to evaluate their performance in all Knowledge Sets, the Adaptive Assessment is not needed.
Knowledge Set Set Priorities and Ordering
The Adaptive Study Plan algorithm takes several factors into consideration when calculating the order in which to present Knowledge Sets to a given learner. Some of these factors are:
- User’s performance on questions
- Knowledge Set importance (typically driven by the weighting of the exam)
- Question difficulty
To reset Knowledge Set Priorities manually select Recalculate Category Priority from Adaptive Study Plan dashboard. Additionally, Knowledge Set Priorities refresh upon login.
Once the Knowledge Set order has been established, a learner is only able to study the highest priority Knowledge Set. A learner cannot move on to the next Knowledge Set without achieving mastery in the current Knowledge Set. By default, BenchPrep considers mastery demonstrated if a user has a score of 80% or higher in the practice questions of a given Knowledge Set. This performance requirement can be adjusted at a course level upon request.
Practice Questions
The Adaptive Study Plan will start with prompting a learner to attempt practice questions within the top priority Knowledge Set if they are available. As a learner attempts practice questions within the Adaptive Study Plan, they are able to see the effect of each answer on their performance.
Lessons
If a learner falls below 30% score on practice questions, the Adaptive Study Plan prompts the learner to review the lessons of that Knowledge Set and come back to the practice questions later.
Flashcards
The Adaptive Study Plan will not prompt a learner to complete flashcards for a given Knowledge Set. A learner can choose to study flashcards from the Adaptive Study Plan.
To switch learning modality within each Knowledge Set:
- Click on Currently Studying button
- Select the desired modality to being your learning
Once a Knowledge Set is completed, a learner will be prompted to move to the next Highest Priority Knowledge Set. Completed Knowledge Sets can be accessed by selecting Completed and choosing desired modality to review.