(1) Psychometric Research, Law School Admission Council, 662 Penn Street, Newtown, PA 18940, USA;(2) Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 180 University Avenue, Newark, NJ 07102-1895, USA
Abstract:
This paper introduces a novel approach for extracting the maximum number of non-overlapping test forms from a large collection
of overlapping test sections assembled from a given item bank. The approach involves solving maximum set packing problems
(MSPs). A branch-and-bound MSP algorithm is developed along with techniques adapted from constraint programming to estimate
lower and upper bounds on the optimal MSP solution. The algorithm is general and can be applied in other applications including
combinatorial auctions. The results of computer simulations and experiments with an operational item bank are presented.
An erratum to this article is available at .